Quartz magazine writes "Since 2000, 284 people have fallen off cruise ships—and another 41 from large ferries—an average of about 1.5 people per month. The cruise industry says that accidental “falls” don’t happen when passengers are behaving responsibly. And online commenters on cruise forums generally dismiss those who go overboard as drunk, careless, or stupid, and see these events, while unfortunate, as no more than a Darwinian culling of the vacationing population."
Just in 2018, over 28 million passengers took a cruise, so only a tiny fraction have fallen overboard since 2000. Still the disruption from search and rescue missions, the stress on the passengers and crew and the negative PR is significant. Cruise lines are starting to use thermal cameras, sensors and other technologies for timely detection of such incidents.
MSC Cruises has piloted with Bosch and HPE to deploy "a comprehensive shield of intelligent optical and thermal video cameras which provide nonstop comprehensive surveillance alongside the relevant exterior parts of the ship. All captured video images are streamed in real-time to a Central Security Room where the video stream is monitored together with all other inputs from the 1,200 HD CCTV cameras on board the ship."
MARSS promises low false alarms with their product called MOBtronic
- Multiple radars simultaneously monitor ship wall ensuring falling objects are detected and tracked
- Radar tracks are confirmed by collocated independent radar sensors
- Behavior of confirmed track is analyzed (based on speed, fall direction, shape, strength)
- MOB radar track is verified with infrared signature (heat, object shape, dimension, range)
- Visual confirmation by crew based on video replay; within seconds crew can confirm MOB alarm
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