Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster

[Crostorm]

Divers search for 70 missing passengers



http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/most-popul ... -23699393/

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_lJbwofmJk[/youtube]

Costa Concordia, the image of the helicopter GdF

http://www.ilgiornale.it/video/costa_co ... o_tragedia?

[StormingB81]

It just looks fake...well maybe thast the wrong word..It looks Surreal..like wow....Prayers for all involved! I like to see what the investigation tells...I mean how does that happend....

[cycloneye]

The captain was detained for investigation,but he told in an interview the following.

Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, had told Italian television that the vessel had hit a rocky spur while cruising in waters which, according to the charts, should have been safe. "As we were navigating at cruise speed, we hit a rocky spur," he told Tgcom24 television station:"According to the nautical chart, there should have been sufficient water underneath us," he added.

[RL3AO]

They we're four miles off course. How does that happen with GPS systems?

[HurricaneBill]

It just looks fake...well maybe thast the wrong word...

I think you probably meant unreal.

[StormingB81]

It just looks fake...well maybe thast the wrong word...

I think you probably meant unreal.

yes after that lin I put surreal....just loss for words so tragic!

[HurricaneBill]

The ship disaster that always stands out in my mind was the MS Estonia disaster in 1994.

[cycloneye]

Below is a webcam from the area.



http://www.webcams.travel/webcam/129880 ... glio-Porto

[Gustywind]

From our daily newspaper France-Antilles...

Sinking in Italy: three dead and 40 missing, Commander arrested
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.a ... 154174.php

AFP14.01.2012

The authorities suspended Saturday disappeared, encrypted research to about 40, in the sinking the previous night of a cruise ship which left three dead near an island in Tuscany, while justice arrested the Commander for abandonment of the ship. -Filippo Monteforte (AFP)

The authorities suspended Saturday disappeared, encrypted research to about 40, in the sinking the previous night of a cruise ship which left three dead near an island in Tuscany, while justice arrested the Commander for abandonment of the ship.

The accident occurred Friday night when the Costa Concordia, carrying 4.229 persons the majority of Italian, French and German tourists, struck a rock near the Giglio Island, according to the evidence.

The Commander, Francesco Schettino, as well as the first officer Ciro Ambrosio are accused of killing multiple, sinking and abandonment of the ship.

Commander "approached in a very clumsy way of the Giglio Island, struck a rock which is embedded in its left flank, making bow (ship) and embark on lot of water in the space of two, three minutes", said the Attorney of Grosseto Francesco Verusio press.

Mr. Schettino was earlier defended by stating "struck a rocky spur" which was not on the nautical maps, a hypothesis excluded by the coast guard.

The prefect of Grossetto Giuseppe Linardi announced "three confirmed dead" and indicated that 41 people were still missing the appeal, by confronting the lists of the shipowner speaking 4.231 or 4.229 passengers and crew and those of rescuers. Mr. Linardi however cited the example of 4 Americans as missing then found in an inhabitant of the Giglio that had hosted the night.

The balance sheet also includes 42 wounded, including two in a State serious, a woman with a head injury and a man for trauma to the spinal column.

According to health sources, most have been members, hands, arms or legs broken and suffering from hypothermia, sign that they are thrown into the icy water.

Ennio Aquilino, Commander of the firefighters of Grossetto, indicated to AFP that his men had "out 100 people of the water and saved about 60 others were trapped on the boat".

All day, with rescuers and divers inspected the parties emerged and submerged the vessel, lying on the side with a huge gap of 70 to 100 metres, inclined to 80 degrees, and half under water, looking for possible survivors. The "black boxes" of the ship (recording conversations) have recovered and seized by justice.

Luca Curry, a spokesman for the firefighters told AFP his fear that the ship "failed on the rocks" slips to offshore, where it could sink in 100 meters of water.

The prefect also spoke of a risk of pollution since there is 2380 tons of diesel fuel in the tanks of the ship, a danger relativized by an official of the Ministry of the environment with AFP: "it is a ship nine, double bottom, everything is well sealed".

The rescued more than 4,200 were transferred from the Giglio to the port of Santo Stefano and then repatriated home in Italy, abroad or in the hotels of the region.

4.229 People including more than 3,000 tourists, especially 989 Italians, Germans, French, Spanish 177 462 569, Costa Concordia, from Civitavecchia to 18: 00 GMT Saturday, was carrying 129 Americans.

According to a release of Costa Crociere, the cruise ship was on a cruise in the Mediterranean at the start of Savona "with stops in Civitavecchia, Palermo, Cagliari, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona and Marseille".

The Concordia was considered a true "temple of entertainment" with its 58 suites with balconies, five restaurants, 13 bars, five jacuzzis and four swimming pools.

The passengers were dinner or for some already in bed when the accident occurred. Initially the Commander to is wanted reassuring announcing a power failure. "At approximately 21: 45 (20 H 45 GMT), the alarm for damage has occurred, two shots followed by long whistles of a short and we kept our calm to avoid panicking passengers", indicated a moderator of the ship, according to which "the abandonment of the ship been decided two hours later".

"We heard a loud noise, the flat and covered fell on the ground, the lights are out, but staff told us not to worry", testified Roberto Bombardieri, a hairdresser who was to participate in a competition in its class on board.

Several passengers have described "scenes of revelation" and "panic" with crowding between passengers seeking to mount on rowboats, screams and crying of the 50 children and many retirees participating in the cruise.

A journalist, Mara Parmegiani passenger, denounced the unpreparedness of the crew: "there were problems at the time where the longboats were lowered to the sea" and the pilot of his canoe "had to be replaced", then that some lifejackets "did not work, and the lights" emergency.

The captaincy of the port of Livorno, the most important of Tuscany, has opened an investigation on the causes of the accident and how the passengers were rescued. The Ministry of infrastructure has also opened an investigation.

The main issue is the presence of the ship too close to the coast of the Giglio, at 1,500 meters, according to a French passenger.

While Giorgio Fanculli, a journalist living on the island meant a time ship Parade "all lights on" to greet the inhabitants of the Giglio, Gianni Onorato, Director-General of Costa Crociere (cruise Costa), indicated that it "is not correct to say that the boat was outside its road".

[Florida1118]

Death toll up to 6 now.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/16/world/eur ... ?hpt=hp_t3

[Gustywind]

Sinking in Italy: research stay, fear of a black tide
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.a ... 154384.php

AFP16.01.2012

Rescuers continued their search Monday evening in the wreck of the Costa Concordia, which sank on the Italian island of the Giglio was at least six dead and may cause an ecological "disaster". -Filippo Monteforte (AFP)


Italian divers – spelunkers have suspended their research Monday night around the wreck of the Costa Concordia, which wrecked on the island of the Giglio was six dead, a balance which may be increasing as 29 people are still missing the appeal.

A total "of 29 persons, 4 crew members and 25 passengers still lack the appeal", announced to a television program, the General Commander of the Italian coast guard Marco Brusco.

According to him, 6 Italians and 10 Germans would be part of the missing. Other nationalities were not disclosed, but the State Department has launched a notice of a couple of Americans, Gerald and Barbara Ann Heil research. Rescuers had until then said search these two Americans, four Italians, two pairs of French and six crew members.

The research of the disappeared until late with powerful projectors have been stopped in the evening in the wreck of the ship, coated in equilibrium on rocks within 50 metres of the shore and that threatens to drag to UPS funds.

Highlighting how the exploration of the ship is "dangerous", Mr. Brusco found that "there is a glimmer of hope" because "there are still areas to control". Experts have compared their work with cavers in a cave.

The Concordia carrying 4.229 people, some tourists 3.200 and 1,000 crew members, was lost Friday night after having struck a rock near the island of the Giglio, Tuscany (West Central).

The disaster has made at least six dead, including four tourists, two French, an Italian and a Spanish and a man of Peruvian crew. The body of a sixth victim at dawn was extracted Monday afternoon of the ship.

In addition to the human tragedy, the authorities enable to avoid an ecological "disaster" the flight of the 2380 tons of fuel, diesel dense and heavy, yet in the bowels of the Mastodon. In mid-afternoon, an oily liquid has elapsed in the vicinity of the wreck.

In the evening, the Minister of the environment Corrado Clini stated that he is apparently "not a fuel leak".

However, the Government will declare the State of natural disaster on the area as early as this week to mobilize a maximum of financial and human resources to prevent pollution of the natural park surrounding the Giglio. The Mayor of the island Sergio Ortelli entrusted fear this "ecological bomb".

A team of experts from the Dutch company Smit & Salvage attempts to place the ship in safety, with yellow buoys in the form of sausages.

In the meantime, the Commander of Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, is more and more in the sights. In detention in Grosseto (centre) due to a "flight risk", Francesco Schettino was placed under special surveillance with the help of a psychologist Monday, even if it "did not demonstrate any suicidal intentions", according to a head of the pénitentière.

A recording of one of his conversations with the coast guard worsens elements to support against him by showing that he left the ship well before the last evacuee against all the rules in force in the Navy and refused even to go back on board.

"Commander, is an order, it is me who now command, you must go to the bow, back on board and coordinate relief", intimate an officer of the captaincy to Mr. Schettino, according to a transcript released by the Ansa agency.

Counsel for the captain, Mr. Bruno Leporatti, which made him visit Monday, described him as "overwhelmed by the loss of life and highly disturbed by what has happened", believing that the night of the sinking, he "retained the necessary lucidity" to derail to the vessel close to shore, "saving the lives of many people".

Many are nevertheless damning for Mr. Schettino, suspected to be approached well too near the coast to perform a parade, nicknamed the "inchino" (reverence), all lights turned on and with big horns to greet the inhabitants of the island.

The patron of Costa Crociere, owner of the ship, also denounced "human" error and "disagreed" Commander, Monday at the headquarters of the company in Genoa (the Italy centre), where the flags were at half-mast.

Moved to tears, Pier Luigi Foschi, made a tribute to the crew members "who have all behaved in Heroes" and managed to evacuate "more than 4,000 people in two hours".

The CEO of Costa Crociere (American Group Carnival) stated that the trajectory that has decided to take the Commander was "an initiative of its own will, contrary to the written rules, certified" by the company.

The disaster, which recalled the sinking of the Titanic one hundred years after the tragedy, also has lot of heroes. As the Commissioner of edge Manrico Giampietroni who saved dozens of people before falling into a hole, left leg. He was rescued Sunday after spending 36 hours stuck in the wreckage.

A couple of newlyweds South Korean, who was able to also be rescued, told his nightmare at the South Korean Agency Yonhap.

The cruise line American Carnival, whose title was lost in a session 16,46% on the London Stock Exchange, has encrypted between 85 and 95 million dollars the immediate impact on account of the sinking.

The international maritime Organization (IMO), which depends on the United Nations, considered to be "the lessons" of the disaster and "if necessary" review the rules of safety on large passenger vessels. Because of the disaster, it set aside Monday in celebrations for the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912.

Premonition or ironically, Commander Schettino had stated in 2010 to a Czech newspaper: "I would never be in the role of the Commander of the Titanic".

[Crostorm]

Captain 'Ignored Order' To Return To Ship

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16150533

video
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4dd3MI4zjs[/youtube]

[Stephanie]

They we're four miles off course. How does that happen with GPS systems?

GPS systems have to be updated - I've been on many trips that have taken us so far out of the way to get to a place when there's an easier route. However, this isn't like driving around avoiding accidents, traffic jams or pot holes. Wasn't this area already mapped? Rocks don't appear out of nowhere unless you're drunk or stoned. WTH??

[mf_dolphin]

The captain should be drawn and quartered. There's no excuse for what happened with the ship other than his incompetance.

[vbhoutex]

The captain should be drawn and quartered. There's no excuse for what happened with the ship other than his incompetance.

I have to agree. It doesn't matter which version of which story you listen to. He is the reason this disaster happened and he needs to be held accountable.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

The story of the captain vs a woman passenger from Saskatchewan:

After waiting for five lifeboats, Megan and her mom were in line for the last one on the low side. People were “pushing and grabbing at you because you’re sliding” and then Megan saw man with a baby in his arms and a woman holding a small child.

“I had been calm, I hadn’t screamed, I hadn’t yelled, but at that point, we shoved a little bit to get them through and get them on the boat,” she said.

“That boat went, and there was a moment of — there are no boats. All the lifeboats are gone.”

Two crew members led the rest of those waiting down a metal staircase to another deck. Water was washing up onto it, and having seen the nearby Tuscan island of Giglio earlier, Megan knew swimming might be their only option.

Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/Saskatchewan+ ... z1k8Gduem9]

Two women made sure four others got in ahead of them. If that Captain truly did abandon his passengers and ship (and it sure looks like he did) he is the lowest of the low.

Not sure if this can be heard elsewhere but it is a broadcast of the history of Captains that abandon their ship (and those that have followed the international standards of conduct) : http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2012/01/20/abandoning-ship-history-of-captains/ the interview around 3 to 5 minutes in was interesting/informative.

also "Scorned Cruise Ship Captain Not Alone in History The captain of the wrecked Costa Concordia allegedly abandoned ship -- like many captains before him."
http://news.discovery.com/history/ship-captain-abandon-history-120117.html

When I go on a cruise I'll be looking for one that has a Northern European Captain (not for the letting women and children go first but for maintaining order and *hopefully* for sticking with proper Maritime Conduct).

"On the other side of these tales of shame are numerous stories of nautical chivalry. One, involving the sinking of the troopship the HMS Birkenhead off the coast of South Africa in 1852, inspired the tradition of "women and children first."

The story goes that the soldiers' commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Seton, ordered his men to help get the women and children on board the three lifeboats as the Birkenhead began sinking in shark-infested waters. Not a single woman or child lost their life, thanks to the soldiers who stoically stood on deck as the ship went down. Their sacrifice has gone down in maritime history as the Birkenhead Drill -- women and children first .For the most part, people aboard one of history's most famous shipwrecks, the Titanic, also followed the tradition of the "Birkenhead Drill." The Titanic's captain E.J. Smith admonished the men to "Be British," letting women and children leave first. In the best romantic tradition, he did go down with his ship.

Indeed, 74 percent of the women and 52 percent of the children were saved; while only 20 percent of the men survived.

But one cannot rely on the Birkenhead tradition on all ships. Of the 86 survivors of the Northfleet, which sank in the English Channel in 1873, there was only one woman and two children, while no woman is recorded as a survivor in the emigrant ship the London, which sank near Plymouth in 1865.

The chivalric code was also absent on the Costa Concordia, with people pushing to get into lifeboats -- leaving behind children, pregnant women and disabled people.

Nevertheless, acts of heroism emerged amid chaos and panic.

While the captain was ashore giving television interviews, four men -- a doctor, a young official, the ship's purser and the deputy mayor of the Giglio island, who boarded the ship after the disaster -- saved about 500 trapped passengers.

Among the heroes, the 57-year-old ship's purser, Manrico Giampedroni, was found trapped in the ship with a broken leg 36 hours after the collision."

[Cyclenall]

Wow, what a disaster this was. Never thought in 2012 there would be a cruise ship disaster with all the modern technology but of course, there is always human stupidity/carelessness to mess with it. The death toll is up to 17 I think now which is very bad. The cruise line was worth $500 million so just think the caption might have caused that much damage because of his detour closer to an island to "impress" people on the shoreline. I also thought the caption's explanation was hilarious, he accidentally "tripped" into a lifeboat and couldn't get off it!! Then, it later came out that he was dining with another staff member, ordering drinks and dessert while the ship was suppose to being evacuated of everyone. The chef was wondering what was going on during this and someone from the kitchen reported to the outside officials that things were "falling on their heads all over the place".

The events that followed the initial rock hit to the Concordia were a total failure at every possible level and way. Everything that could have gone wrong did and nothing went as it was suppose to. This is unbelievably rare for ship disasters, especially for 2012. Passengers report that the staff did not help them one bit and even hindered them like giving false information about what to do next and some even said they helped the staff more then the staff helped them!! The life boats were damaged and not being readied like they should have been, it was every man for them-self as to getting on one of them or jumping off. People were being pushed and shoved to get there first and that included woman and children (men pushing them out). Some lifeboats that were launched successfully on the water hit one another and caused problems. For the rest of the stranded passengers, they had to save themselves so they jumped and swam to the nearby island where no rescue response met them! They had to then hitchhike a ride from passing cars on that island to go somewhere else completely wet and soaked!!!

I would say this is certainly the modern day Titanic. There are big differences but overall I think this is the closest we will see to a repeat of that disaster. The ship was even made to withstand possible sink threats like the Titanic had (compartments). What is most incredible is that this is the 100th year anniversary of the Titanic! Just months away from it!

Other details not in this thread yet:

- It turns out this isn't the first time the cruise line got that close to the rocks near the island, a tour just last summer got even closer before without incident. The reason for this is because the caption likes to show off usually and take different routes.
- The staff continued to report to the passengers to remain calm and do nothing. During this time, the ship was suppose to be evacuating. There is video of a staff member telling everyone to either stay in the hall, go back to their cabins, or do something else I don't recall.
- The caption was known for his excessive partying and other staff thought that's what he was doing during the disaster.
- It's possible the ship will be a total loss in the end but another possibility is that they will blow up major sections of it and turn it into a reef.
- This disaster could turn into an oil disaster yet if they don't successfully pump out all the oil from the Costa Concordia. It would destroy the local economy if it does.