Talk:Loose Cargo, part 2/@comment-1087109-20190306160459

Is it possible that the added weight of the stowaway caused the whole incident?

I don't know the dynamic load rating of the rope they used, nor the total weight of the cargo on the pallet they were lowering down. It could be that the rope should have been able to take any conceivable load, and it just happened to fail - or it could be that they were working with limited carrying capacity and had to pay attention to how much load they were putting on at once.

I also don't know if the stowaway contributed any significant load. Hard to say what the load was, since the contents and weight of the barrels probably vary a lot. And I have no idea how big the barrel is and what sort of person could fit in there - a lightweight kid, or a 80-kilo adult. Also I wonder if the people loading the barrels did not notice the difference in weight.