Did Trinity Liftboats think their disabled vessel was like the Titanic?

“God Himself couldn’t sink this ship.”

Those infamous words were allegedly uttered by a White Star Line employee about the Titanic before it sank on April 15, 1912 after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage.

There’s not a ship in this world that can’t be sunk or put out of commission. However, perhaps Trinity Liftboat Services of New Iberia, La. thought their vessel, the Trinity II, couldn’t be disabled.

Tropical Storm Nate proved otherwise.

On Thursday at around noontime, amidst gale force winds and 20 foot seas in the Gulf of Campeche, the vessel crew sent out a distress message saying they were abandoning ship, said a spokesman from Houston-based Geokenitics, which leased the vessel.

According to vessel Capt. Jeremy Parfait, one of the three stabilizing legs broke in the raging storm.

A nearby ship spotted the 10 workers piling into a covered life raft but could not assist in the rough conditions. Because the raft was too small, some of the workers had to hold onto to handles on the outside of the raft.

Seven workers were rescued three days later. One of them later died in a Mexican hospital.

Two Iberia, Louisiana men were reported in a funeral home obituary to have been found dead, yet Trinity Liftboats has still not released their names 72 hours after their bodies were discovered.

"Imagine: 72 hours without sleep, exhausted, without water, dehydrated and being battered by waves," said Adm. Joaquin Garcia-Perez Silva, commander of Mexican Naval Region III, in an Associated Press report.

The question is, why was the crew not evacuated from the vessel before being left to the mercy of the elements?

According to Geokinetics’ own timeline as reported by KATC.com, Tropical Storm Nate was already approaching the Gulf of Campeche on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Why was the vessel not ordered to transit away from the path of the storm? Was the decision made by the company for the workers to ride it out or was there a miscalculation as to the storm’s track and intensity?

These questions must be asked of Geokinetics and Trinity.