This Isn't Supposed to Happen in Modern Times.

[RJBowman]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3336715/Mystery-ghost-fleet-washes-Japan-Eleven-ships-containing-20-dead-sailors-discovered-coast-explain.html

It seems that ghost ships carrying the bodies of North Korean fishermen have been washing up on the shore of Japan.  No one knows why.

[Crescat Scientia]

That's very sad.

Is the Daily Mail a reliable news source?

[Keith_Beef]

That's very sad.

Is the Daily Mail a reliable news source?

Do you ever wonder why we often refer to it as the Daily Fail?

While it's sad, "Eleven ships containing 20 dead sailors" is an average of 1.82 (to 2dp) dead sailors per boat… Captain and first mate? The rest of the crew managed to take to the liferafts?

But in the Fail's world, such stories are just click-bait to get eyeballs to the page in the hope that they will spot the photos of celebs down the right-hand side of the page, and get hooked on the latest hemline, tanline and bump stories.

[Crescat Scientia]

I did notice the numbers.  It's not too farfetched to imagine a small, plain fishing boat with no technology and a crew of one or two people coming to a disastrous end.

Given North Korea's situation, it's easy enough to imagine plausible ways this tragedy could have happened.

[Atterton]

A tiny plague ship?

[Peter Brassbeard]

the bodies of at least 20 sailors were ‘badly decomposed’ and ‘skeleton-like’.

So could have been more sailors.  State of the bodies would make cause of death difficult to determine, and suggests the boats have been adrift for awhile.  The pictures also suggest the boats are heavily weathered, and fairly small.  If plague boats more dead may have been tossed overboard by the dying.

[Crescat Scientia]

I'm not sure I understand.  By "plague ship" do you mean like a coastal village deliberately sending out its infected people on small low-tech unmarked fishing boats to die at sea?  Or more sinisterly, to drift to Japan?

Frankly the whole thing, whatever is behind it, sounds tragic.

[Hurricane Annie]

 The New Zealand Herald and other parers are reporting it

 I would like to say that the 'Herald  is  usually  a reliable news source  - but alas lately is has been  publishing anything that  looks shiny.

[Crescat Scientia]

I can think of numerous tragic but not sinister reasons for plain fishing boats containing one or two dead people each to start washing up on Japan's shores.

But North Korea is such a strange place, I guess there can be wonder if there is something more awful going on behind them.

[Crescat Scientia]

The BBc has picked up the story too.

The hypothesis is that the boats got lost at sea because of a complete lack of modern equipment.

[Atterton]

Yes, North Korea isn't really living in modern times. They chose a different path.

[Crescat Scientia]

Yes, North Korea isn't really living in modern times. They chose a different path.

Strictly speaking, their leaders did.