Wow. That is terrible.
It was, and is. Logging, like commercial fishing/crabbing is extremely dangerous. Last week a Seattle based vessel sank off the coast of Alaska. They saved 40+ crew members, but lost 4. Every year there's a boat that doesn't come back, and every year there's a logger that has to be carried from the woods in a bag. My line of work (welding) is dangerous as well. I work mostly at refineries and co-gen plants, and on pipelines. If you don't know what you're doing safety-wise, eventually you're going to kill yourself or someone else, that's why I make the money that I do. Loggers and fisherman are generally high paid, for the amount of hours that are put in. Couple dangerous work with dangerous conditions, and there are always going to be accidents.
The worst though are the ones that can be avoided.