A few passengers bobbed to the surface; some clung numbly to pieces of debris while others screamed desperately for help.
Edward Darvall listened numbly as Barnard told him: "We have done our best, and there is nothing more that can be done to help your daughter.
And since he never bothers to establish why we should care about any of his characters, we just sit there numbly, awaiting the next sensation and trying, without notable success .