Naval architects never claim that a ship is unsinkable, but the sinking of the…
NIFT 2021 · English Language and Comprehension · 4 questions
Naval architects never claim that a ship is unsinkable, but the sinking of the passenger-and-car ferry Estonia in the Baltic surely should never have happened. It was well designed and carefully maintained. It carried the proper number of lifeboats. It had been thoroughly inspected on the day of its fatal voyage. Yet hours later, the Estonia rolled over and sank on a cold, stormy night. It went down so quickly that most of those on board, caught in their dark, flooding cabins, had no chance to save themselves. Of those who managed to scramble overboard, only 139 survived. The rest died of hypothermia before the rescuers could pluck them from the cold sea. The final death toll was 912 souls. However, there were an unpleasant number of questions about why the Estonia sank and why so many survivors were men in the prime of their lives, while most of the dead were women, children and the elderly.
Question 1
One can understand from the passage that
A. most victims were trapped inside the ship as they were in their cabins.
B. the lifesaving equipment did not work well and lifeboats could not be lowered.
C. design faults and incompetent crew contributed to the sinking of the Estonia ferry.
D. naval architects claimed that the Estonia was unsinkable.
PrepTarget