5000 persons will die per year in the EU due to diesel cheating. 15000 persons will die per year due to excess Nox emissions i.e. the result of selling in "clean diesel" by the car industry when in effect it is very dirty.
I'm not trying to defend their actions. It just seems that if NOx emissions were such a threat, that we'd eliminate those that produce mass qualities of them. How can it be determined whether people died from these emissions of those of cargo ships?
Particulates from cargo ships aren't a major concern for human health. They're not long-lived in the atmosphere, so when emitted over the open ocean, they're removed from the air long before they reach populated areas.