Airline blase about safety
IN recent weeks there have been several articles relating to air travel safety in China in your paper.
I too have had a disturbing experience which only goes to confirm that the comparison between walking the war torn streets of Sarajevo and flying in China is not an exaggeration.
On September 7, I was a passenger on board the China Southern flight CZ313 from Shantou to Hong Kong. For some reason, as the cabin crew was demonstrating the use of the oxygen mask and life vest, I felt under my seat for my life jacket. There was none there - nor was there one under the seat in front of me, or under the seat beside me.
Horrified, I got the attention of a stewardess who then checked under another seat across the aisle. Quite a few passengers around me started checking also and they too could not find any.
The stewardess then scurried off in what seemed to be embarrassment, and no explanation whatsoever was given for the missing life vests. My fellow passengers, however, were either amused or unconcerned, with one actually telling me, ''Don't worry, you don't need it.'' Could it be that the only life vests on board were those used by the crew for the demonstration? What happened to the other vests? Surely they weren't stolen by passengers on the previous flight? This blatant disregard of passengers' safety by China Southern is inexcusable and warrants an investigation.
Missing life vests are something any passenger can spot. This only makes me wonder what goes on in the cockpit and maintenance hangar.
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