Although passengers should not try to grab their luggage before escaping from a crashed plane which could explode, those who do so should not be criticized because the human mind works in weird ways in times of panic. Besides, such people may not have the knowledge to cope with such emergencies, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

Video clips of the crashed Asiana Airlines flight show a woman in a green blouse fleeing with her big suitcase, with thick smoke billowing and flames rolling in the background. Some netizens have criticized her for being greedy, saying she cared more for her belongings than her life. They have also said that she might have made it difficult for other passengers to escape.

Others have said that her action was "instinctive", which revealed she did not know how to react in emergencies.

It's hard to stay calm when a plane crashes. But the woman's action is a warning to air passengers to improve their emergency-response knowledge.

If all the passengers on the crashed Asian Airlines flight knew how to cope with emergencies, there would have been fewer injuries and deaths. Some passengers on the ill-fated flight later said that many people had unfastened their seat belts before the plane landed and as result their heads hit the seats in front.

To cope with emergencies, we should improve our survival knowledge and never hesitate to take preventive measures. We should think of the best but prepare for the worst.

(China Daily 07/12/2013 page9)