Cruise ship capsizes off the coast of Italy

[hockeyfan1]

A cruise ship, the Costa Concordia,  (it's parent company owned by U.S.-based Carnival Corp.,), capsized off the coast of Italy, carrying a multitude of passengers, many from foreign countries (including 12 Canadians on board).  A 160 ft. (50 m) gash was found on the ship's side, as Italian emergency crews tried to rescue as many of the survivors still aboard the as-yet completely sunken ship.


Passengers told harrowing tales, right out of the movie "The Titanic", of everything -- dishes, curtains, lighting fixtures, tables, and themselves -- 'tossed' to one side of the ship's interior, as darkness set in, forcing people to literally crawl on their knees in a desperate attempt to find the escape route.
Many passengers suffered bruised knees as a result, and many were simply terrified of the experience.


Italian officials, along with the cooperation of Carnival, will conduct an ongoing investigation into how and why the ship hit a reef, ensuing in the 160 ft. (50 m) gash in it's side.  The captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino is being questioned for attempting to leave the passengers behind, and for possible manslaughter charges, as allegations persist that he had deliberately steered the ship's course too close to the reef in order to cause the devasting collision. 


There are many questions unanswered, as the Costa Concordia has been performing the same voyage between the Italian Mediterranean coastal area between Ciivitavecchia and the island of Giglio, a popular destination among tourists.

To date, 40 passengers have been unaccounted for.

Terrible, just terrible.  For more, go to:


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/reports-cruise-ship-runs-aground-off-tuscan-island-030101152.html

 

[hockeyfan1]

Stupid reckless fool.

These are the only words one could describe Francesco Schettino's actions, as the captain of the capsized Costa Concordia, was rumoured to have been seen in a bar drinking, oblivous to the ship's desination, and, also, was seen waving to a friend near the shore, which prompted him to navigate the ship too close aground, resulting in the 50 m gash in the ship's port-hull side. 

Incredible negligence.  Upon reading this, I felt ashamed to be an Italian for a day.  Such disorganization from the crew that could't even direct panicked passengers to the boats alongside the ship, for the escape route plan.  Oh, Lord!  And to think there were approximately 4000 passengers on that ship....

More at:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087126/Doomed-cruise-skipper-seen-drinking-bar-beautiful-woman-abandoning-ship-sailed-disaster.html

 

[Trolloc]

Stupid reckless fool.

These are the only words one could describe Francesco Schettino's actions, as the captain of the capsized Costa Concordia, was rumoured to have been seen in a bar drinking, oblivous to the ship's desination, and, also, was seen waving to a friend near the shore, which prompted him to navigate the ship too close aground, resulting in the 50 m gash in the ship's port-hull side. 

I've been on two Costa ships and one Royal Caribbean. Both companies do safety training within the first 48 hours. With Costa I remember just skipping it and sleeping in my room while the alarm went off to go to the deck. With Royal Caribbean, staff came door to door making sure everyone participated. The captains are often involved in ship activates, I wonder if that was the drinking he was involved in (say a dismemberment toast) or the guy was just living it up on a cruise ship.

My experiences on Costa cruises were great but they don't have a great reputation. I talked to a few people that just had horrible experiences with staff and services. Not sure it it was the Concordia they were referring to specifically.

Either way, it is a colossal screw up by the captain of the ship. These cruises do the same "tour" over and over again. They use the exact same routes and time is more often than not a luxury. There is a schedule but they have enough time to reach destinations. They're fortunate so few died in this accident, this time of year these cruises are littered with seniors.

 

[Zee]

How the hell are they gonna move that ship?

 

[Mikhail Bloodnovsky]

The captain must have been playing too much Uncharted 3

 

[maplesyrup]

How the hell are they gonna move that ship?

Cut 'er up I'm guessing.

 

[Corn Flake]

How the hell are they gonna move that ship?

Make it an underwater hotel.

 

[sucka]

The captains are often involved in ship activates, I wonder if that was the drinking he was involved in (say a dismemberment toast) or the guy was just living it up on a cruise ship.

I'd say, if he lost his arms and legs, i guess that's a good excuse as any for not being able to steer the thing!

 

[Trolloc]

The captains are often involved in ship activates, I wonder if that was the drinking he was involved in (say a dismemberment toast) or the guy was just living it up on a cruise ship.

I'd say, if he lost his arms and legs, i guess that's a good excuse as any for not being able to steer the thing!

lol...oops

 

[hockeyfan1]

How the hell are they gonna move that ship?

Cut 'er up I'm guessing.

This is the procedure that will be followed...

...the Costa Concordia mess could take months, and possibly years, to clean up.

First, salvage crews will need to conduct underwater inspections to evaluate the damage of the starboard (submerged) side of the hull. The port-side hull and the rest of the ship that's visible above the waterline have sustained substantial damage. How badly the rocks have gouged the starboard hull will determine how the salvage companies proceed.

...there's the fuel. The large cruise ship was carrying more than 2,000 tons of diesel fuel when it wrecked. There are no apparent leaks, but officials have deployed anti-spill booms around the ship, in case it shifts on the rocks and one of 17 tanks ruptures. Any spill could cause an ecological nightmare in the area.

A Dutch...will remove the remaining fuel using a system of pumps and valves that will vacuum the oil out of the ship and into transport tanks. This process will take two to four weeks.

...next step is to get the ship upright. Doing this involves an old-fashioned process called parbuckling, in which barges with huge winches crank the ship into position, bit by bit.

Once upright, crews will need to clean out the ship.

the ship isn't salvageable and it isn't possible to right it, patch it up and send it on its way, because fundamental damage has been done."

If this is possible with the Costa Concordia, once it is upright crews will pump out the water, stabilize it and apply patches.

Once the ship is upright and floating, whether by air bags or on its own, it will likely be towed away by tugboats and be docked elsewhere for full assessment.

It's possible that repairs could make the vessel seaworthy again...several experts believe it's more likely that the ship will be declared a total loss and chopped up for scrap.

For the complete story, go to:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/happen-wrecked-cruise-ship-214401476.html

 

[hockeyfan1]

Very definitely the captain's fault...


...newspaper Corriere della Sera released what it said was a recording of ship-to-shore radio communications in which the enraged coastguards repeatedly order him back on board.

"GO BACK ON BOARD!"

"Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea, but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Dammit, go back on board!" one coastguard says.

Speaking by radio from a lifeboat, Schettino pleads: "Do you realize that it is dark and we can't see anything?"

The coastguard shouts back: "So, what do you want to do, to go home, Schettino?! It's dark and you want to go home? Go to the bow of the ship where the ladder is and tell me what needs to be done, how many people there are, and what they need! Now!"

The owners of the 114,500-tonne vessel - the biggest passenger ship ever wrecked and twice the tonnage of the Titanic - accused their captain of causing the disaster by sharply deviating from the charted course.

The owners say the captain swung inshore to "make a bow" to the islanders, who included a retired Italian admiral. Investigators say it was within 150 meters of shore.

...company vessels were forbidden to come closer than 500 meters to the Giglio coast.



For more, go to:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/stricken-italian-liner-shifts-29-people-missing-045422072.html

 

[WalterSobchak]

I thought of the Exxon Valdez when I heard of this crash.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Excuses, excuses, excuses...but then, again, audiotapes don't deny...

A young Moldovan woman, who says she was called to the bridge of the stricken Costa Concordia to help evacuate Russian passengers, defended the embattled captain on Thursday, saying he worked tirelessly and "saved over 3,000 lives."

...a new audiotape of the doomed vessel's first communications with maritime authorities showed the ship's officers continued to report only an electrical problem for more than 30 minutes after hitting the reef.

Schettino was seen eating dinner with a Russian-speaking woman at the time of the impact

"I saw him at the restaurant. He was with a blonde woman. He did not look drunk. They were just eating," a Filipino cocktail waitress, Gladly Balderama, said of Schettino.

"All our colleagues made announcements in different languages because there was a problem with the electricity. It was very dark on the ship," she told the Moldovan daily Adevarul. "I stayed on the bridge in case the captain needed me to make an announcement. There were about 20 more officers, cruise directors and the captain."

She defended Schettino and crew members against criticism of a chaotic evacuation, saying they saved thousands of lives.

Oh, of course, but...

Meanwhile, a new audiotape of the Concordia's first contact with maritime authorities appeared to support allegations that the captain and other senior officers were slow to recognize the seriousness of the accident.

...the port authority asks if everything is OK. A Concordia officer replies that the ship had experienced a blackout, even though it had hit the reef more than half an hour earlier.

"They asked us to make announcements to say that it was electrical problems and that our technicians were working on it and not to panic," a French steward, Thibault Francois, told France-2 television. "I told myself, 'This doesn't sound good.'"

He said he eventually started escorting passengers to lifeboats on orders from his boss, not the captain. "No, there were no orders from the management," he said.

"The emergency alarm was sounded very late," only after the ship "started tilting and water started seeping in," said Mukesh Kumar, who arrived home in New Delhi on Thursday.

Bingo!

The crew sounds more like a bunch of incompetents.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/search-teams-suspend-operations-cruise-ship-grounded-off-091847482.html

 

[hockeyfan1]

Worsening weather has created an alarming concern...

Attention is now turning to how to remove 2,300 tons of fuel, with bad weather threatening to make the ship even more precarious on the rocky ledge where it is resting.

...all possible measures to anchor the ship to prevent it from sliding deeper into the sea.

"If the ship slides, we hope that it doesn't break into pieces and that the fuel tanks do not open up," he said.

...there was a risk that the ship could sink to 50 to 90 meters below the reef it is now on, creating a major hazard to the environment in one of Europe's largest natural marine parks.

"The ship is a labyrinth. It's gigantic and it's lying on its side in the water. It's a miracle that so many survived," said Modesto Dilda, head of one of the diving teams.

The ship's operators... considered themselves "the damaged party" in the accident, which industry experts say could turn out to be the biggest maritime insurance claim in history.

For more, go to:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/weather-key-resuming-search-capsized-italy-liner-000812526.html

 

[hockeyfan1]

An in-depth investigation by Italian journalist Carlo Bonini,  reveals what really caused the capsizing of the Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia,  and the most likely culprits embodied recklessness, ignorance, and human nature all rolled into one...read the story here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/02/02/f-fifth-estate-concordia.html

The dangerous manoeuvre that caused the Costa Concordia cruise ship to crash into rocks off the shore of the Italian island of Giglio last month was likely the result of a rivalry between its captain and that of another ship to see who could get closest to the island when sounding the customary salute that vessels give when passing shore.

Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, had sent an email just weeks before the Jan. 13 disaster to another captain who had managed to sound his ship's horn from closer than the eight kilometres considered safe.

In that email, Schettino vowed to pull the same stunt and do it better, according to Italian investigative journalist Carlo Bonini, one of several people interviewed in a special report on the wreck of the Concordia...

In the report, Bonini describes how it may have been Schettino's challenge to the other captain that led him to, without the knowledge of the ship's passengers, change the Concordia's course to pass about 800 metres from shore even though it was supposed to be heading farther out to sea.

"No one among his officers dared to say, 'This is not safe'," Bonini told the Fifth Estate.

Schettino could have still salvaged the situation had he slowed down and turned the vessel parallel to the coast, said Capt. John Konrad, an experienced master mariner...

Schettino was distracted...witnesses say he was on the bridge of the ship...was talking on the phone. That may have been what caused him to lose track of how close the ship was to the rocks and keep going full speed ahead, causing the stern to smash into an outcrop of rocks less than a ship's length off shore (the Concordia is 290 metres long).

Giglio's deputy mayor, Mario Pellegrino, also witnessed the mayhem firsthand...When he arrived at the cruise ship, he found plenty of panicked passengers scrambling for lifeboats but no senior officers, so he, one junior officer and the ship's stewards, waiters and other staff led the evacuation.

According to Bonini...based on interviews with witnesses, Schettino and three first officers left the cruise ship in a lifeboat shortly after the "abandon ship" order was given.

 

[Madferret]

How the hell are they gonna move that ship?

Make it an underwater hotel.

Uncle Giuseppe's Family Feedbag

 

[hockeyfan1]

Five people charged with manslaughter by Italian court for the chaotic Costa Concordia cruise ship fiasco:

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/07/20/costa_concordia_crew_members_company_official_get_jail_terms.html

As for the ship's captain Francesco Schettino, who was accused of fleeing a sinking ship as it's captain and abandoning passengers, his trial is due in September.

 

[Bender]

How the hell are they gonna move that ship?

Make it an underwater hotel.

Uncle Giuseppe's Family Feedbag

LOL.

I only consider you scum a compared to Krusty! Yeah, you see how you scum.

 

[Big Daddy]

The captain did say that he lost his balance and fell into the lifeboat while helping passengers get off the ship.  But what a coincidence that he fell into the first lifeboat.  F'in *ick.  Should be an interesting trial.

 

[hockeyfan1]

A multinational team of salvage engineers, aided by a Canadian robotics team, is attempting to make history by trying to upright the Costa Concordia from it's semi-submerged state, off the island of Giglio, Italy.

The logistics of the operation are daunting in attempting to prop up a 114,500 tonne behemoth of a cruise ship, at a cost of nearly $1B.

So far, according to reports, the crews with their cranes pulling 6,000 tonnes of force using various mechanical mechanisms, have managed to upright part of it's hull.  The area around the waters in which the Concordia remains is a habitat of delicate marine life.  Any disturbances in the uorighting of the ship can pose as a danger to the reef, should something go terribly wrong with the salvage operation while it is still ongoing.

Have a look at what's happening and how it's being done:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/costa-concordia-cruise-ship-pulled-off-italian-reef-1.1855566