Photog should have stopped at volcano rim

[Bill]

But no. She had to climb over the rim to get a better picture.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL07577504.html

[Breezy]

How sad.

[Citex]

Woah, wonder if she popped off a shot though?

[jon_k]

Sometimes getting "the shot" involves risk. If you get "the shot" it is totally worth it, but not if you pay the ultimate price.

[loana0320]

how sad :( her poor family too

[Breezy]

I agree with Jon I do stupid stuff to get the shot sometimes and dh is usually bitching at me. lol But again it is very sad

[Night Owl]

Natural selection at work. I almost became fatherless before I was born due to a similar effort that turned out a bit better. While Mom was pregnant with me, she and Dad went to Hawaii. Dad, always trying for that unique composition leaned out over a waterfall. He slipped and had to grab a thorn vine to keep from going over.

Anyhoo...

Wonder how close she landed? Are we talking "well done" or "medium rare" close?

[wjmphoto]

Another winner of the Darwin Awards there.

Anyone stupid enough to risk life and limb to get a vacation snapshot may be better off removed from the gene pool. I really can't feel sorry for her or anyone who buys the farm in this manner. Human life is too valuable to throw it all away for something idiotic.

We are not talking about a photojournalist who is paid to "get the shot". We are not talking about someone taking a shot that will change the world or how we see it. We are talking about a total fool who threw away their life for absolutely nothing.

As for "getting the shot involves risks", those who are professionals and take those risks are generally smart enough to weigh them out and get the advise of experts in the area that they are trying to document. A professional or even an intelligent amateur trying to "get the shot" would consult with one of those vocanologists prior to shooting to find the best area to get the shot with the least amount of risk. They would also go into a situation like this with the appropriate safety equipment to prevent the fall.

This is not a case of someone who knows what they are doing taking risks to get the shot. This is not even a case of someone being in a place that they should have been in the first place. This is a case of stupidity finally catching up with the shooter who should not have been on the mountain in the first place. She was on a guided tour and failed to heed the warnings. I just can't feel sorry for that.

[BlueStar-57]

Lets not forget about cultural differences here people. What you call a stupid vacation shot though she is not a professional could have more meaning to a subdued culture. We are not talking about an open culture where people where able to keep pictures taken in the Square where the slaughter went on. So how you think of a picture compared to how they think of a picture is 2 different things. We see pictures of volcano's all the time, do they? Especially in the remote areas-no.

It is sad that she gave her life for a picture, just as many people from all Nations have in the past. As for tours, you are always warned not to do certain dangerous things but I have lacked to ever be on one where you didn't see someone risk it all. Thus I find it very stupid for anyone to provide a tour, etc. without having rescue items on hand, kind of like having a zoo and no dart gun in case an animal gets out like it did in Dallas.

As for the experts, that is a joke. They die daily also knowing they should have taken a precaution they used all the time but decided this one time not to use it. We all take shortcuts and risk life or limbs knowing better and if you have never done it then you are the exception to the human race.

From what was written she did not die immediately thus she did die from a horrible process, nothing funny about that! Did she die after having the best time she had ever experienced in this life, I hope so and given her homeland I bet so. A man chose to stay on Mt. St. Helens because he chose to die happily, if I had the choice to die in a nursing home or die on the mountain I'd pick the mountain with it's beauty and glory before it's final hours. Guess the person who would pull you out of the way of getting hit by a bus even if it meant getting hit by it is stupid too. Those who are willing to risk it all in the military, police force or rescue do it for all people, not just those who are supposively smart. The only people you should not feel sorry for in death (though you should for their familys) is a murderer.

[wjmphoto]

The woman fell into an ACTIVE volcano. Experienced volcanologists and rescue teams were unable to get to her because of the heat and conditions. When you fall over the rim of an active volcano, you are basically dead and should not expect others to risk their own lives for your stupidity.

We are not talking about someone making a mistake in a place with normal environmental conditions. We are talking about temperatures and conditions that are not conducive for human life and that is why a rescue team on a volcanoe tour is an irrational argument. If it were as simple as having a rescue team on hand, she would have been recovered easily, but the story clearly stated that experts and rescue teams were unable to get in there.

This person screwed up. She ignored the safety guidelines and paid the price. As for “cultural differences” alluded to, they don’t exist in the way you were trying to insinuate. Using an emotional appeal to Tiananmen Square and other events does not give credence to the argument that their culture values a vacation snapshot over human life. (In fact it is a logical fallacy that does not help the argument at all.)

[Night Owl]

Culture or not, common sense dictates one should not diddle with hot rock goo.

Anyway, I hope she was a virgin so the fire god will quit making a ruckus.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Night Owl

Culture or not, common sense dictates one should not diddle with hot rock goo.

Anyway, I hope she was a virgin so the fire god will quit making a ruckus.

I think a little compassion is in order here rather than callous remarks.

[Janice_d]

That is very sad, nothing I would wish on any one. I know Mt St Helens is proctected and only scientists get close to that crater. I was as close as I wanted to be when I was t here.

[BlueStar-57]

I'll just state this is not the first event of this happening at a volcano. As I recall it turned out the camera was just a ploy, a village had gathered up money to send the person on the trip so they could bring good luck to the village. It is quiet evident people today do not understand anything outside of their own culture, so your not telling me anything I didn't already know.

I can tell you one boy today is glad to be alive due to a brave soul. He fell into the flood waters and a girl jumped in to save him, she did not survive. Their friends where trying to get the first responders standing around with life jackets to go in and save him. Unbelievably they didn't, but one cop without a life jacket heard them and did jump in and save him. Few rescues ever occur in safe conditions wheter it be by fire, cold, water, etc. It knows no social boundrys, people from all walks of life have gotten themselves into avoidable trouble, even the ones that should know better. I will agree with one fact though, it is not worth risking your life to retrieve a body the time to act is before they are dead. A sad fact shows true colors.

[Night Owl]

Originally Posted by JohnT

I think a little compassion is in order here rather than callous remarks.

I have plenty of compassion for those who don't bring misfortune upon themselves.

Hard-working guy who gets robbed waiting for the bus to go to work = compassion.
Innocent driver who gets struck by a drunk = compassion.

Guy hanging out at a seedy night club at 3:00 am and gets shot in the parking lot = jokes will be made.
Lady falls into a freakin' volcano because she wants a picture = sarcasm and humor.

Gallows humor isn't accepted or understood by many. Cops, firefighters, paramedics, ER staff, etc use it all the time. If we stopped to sob over every tragedy, we'd never get anything accomplished. OTOH, as I mentioned above, I have very little empathy for people who lose their lives as a direct result of an obviously foolish decision.

But, I'll keep future comments on similar topics to myself.