I find I'm at odd with myself over this whole thing. On the one hand I think people do need protecting through laws and regulations to ensure they aren't conned/exposed to unnecessary risk from products or ventures.
On the other hand I also think you need to do your due diligence and understand risks that may be present, especially in high risk areas.
But then I also think some things seem so wildly daft that if you do them you've got to expect if it goes wrong, welp, tough shit. Yep, it's sad, but also feck around and find out. I have to assume that four out of those five people fully understood the risks and went ahead anyway. As for the fifth, assuming the information available is correct, that's a real tragedy that he felt compelled to go despite his fears which retrospectively were entirely valid.