The Other Natalee Holloway Question

In the middle of the ad infinitum (almost ad nauseum) coverage of the tragic disappearance of Natalee Holloway, there's one question I'm just not hearing. As the father of an 18 year old who's about to start college (as you might have noticed if you've been reading along!), the story does strike a chord with me. I don't know what I'd do if my daughter disappeared like that. But here's the missing link...

Where in the world were the chaperones???? I know it was a school event, and they've said that there were six or seven (or maybe eight, can't remember now) adults along with the 140 or so kids on the trip. But what were those adults doing? Why were they letting teenagers gamble and drink the nights away? Where's the responsibility?

We went on our kids' senior trip. Course my wife has homeschooled them both all the way from kindergarten, so it's not exactly the same. But still, I would never dream of letting either of them go somewhere like that without competent adult supervision. (Please no comments on whether I qualify as that!) I expect the adults watching children--even 17 or 18 year old children--to be vigilant, aggressive, alert, on guard and suspicious. I expect those adults to be willing to be a little unpopular by drawing lines and sticking to them. I expect those adults to enforce the rules rather than turning a blind eye.

If anyone has said what those chaperones were doing, I've missed it. But based on the facts that have been presented, it looks to me like they miserably failed at their vital task.