Many dead as luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italian coast

[busybeeburns]

 

Three dead as luxury cruise ship runs aground off Italian coast

 

Three people are confirmed dead after a cruise ship carrying more than 4,000 people ran aground off Italy.

 

There were scenes of panic as the Costa Concordia hit a sandbar on Friday evening near the island of Giglio and listed about 20 degrees. People reached land by lifeboats but some swam ashore.

 

Rescue teams have been going from cabin to cabin, searching for survivors. Italians, Germans, French and British were among the 3,200 passengers. There were also 1,000 crew on board. Helicopters evacuated the last 50 people on the deck who were in a "worsening" situation.

 

Three people were confirmed dead, Italian coast guard officials said on Saturday morning - fewer than the six or eight deaths reported by Italian media earlier. The Costa Concordia had sailed earlier on Friday from Civitavecchia port near Rome for a Mediterranean cruise, due to dock in Marseille after calling at ports in Sicily, Sardinia and Spain. One thousand passengers were Italian, with 500 Germans and 160 French.

 

Some "tens" of British passengers are believed to have been on board, said the UK Foreign Office, which is sending a team to the scene.

 

Some passengers told the Associated Press the crew had failed to give instructions on how to evacuate the ship. An evacuation drill was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. "It was so unorganised, our evacuation drill was scheduled for 17:00 (16:00 GMT)," Melissa Goduti, 28, from the US told AP. "We had joked what if something had happened today."

 

Passengers were eating dinner on Friday evening, when they heard a loud bang, and were told that the ship had suffered electrical problems, one passenger told Italy's Ansa news agency. "We were having supper when the lights suddenly went out, we heard a boom and a groaning noise, and all the cutlery fell on the floor," said Luciano Castro. Passenger Mara Parmegiani told Italian media there were "scenes of panic".

 

"We were very scared and freezing because it happened while we were at dinner so everyone was in evening wear. We definitely didn't have time to get anything else. They gave us blankets but there weren't enough," she said. The 290-metre (950 ft) vessel ran aground, starting taking in water and listing by 20 degrees, the local coast guard said. Orders were given to abandon ship, Deodato Ordona, a cabin steward on the Costa Concordia, told the BBC.

 

"We announced a general emergency and took passengers to muster stations," he said. "But it is hard to launch the lifeboats, so they moved to the right side of the ship, and they could launch."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16558910

[busybeeburns]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX1C8XTUm84]Cruise ship runs aground in Italy - YouTube[/ame]

[StephenJ]

As many as 50 Costa Concordia passengers are still unaccounted for, say harbour authorities in Santo Stafano, #Italy http://bbc.in/yvDESI

[Mrk]

Cruise ship sinks in Italy

 

From:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/thousands-evacuated-from-stricken-cruise-ship-in-italy/story-e6frev00-1226244323407

 

 

EIGHT people are dead after a cruise ship ran aground off the Italian coast in an accident which forced the Italian coast guard to evacuate over 4000 people, according to Italian media reports.

 

The Costa Concordia was on a trip around the Mediterranean when it hit a reef near the Isola del Giglio.

 

The toll is expected to rise with several people still missing after jumping overboard in panic as the ship began to tilt.

 

One of the victims was a man in his 70s who died of a heart attack caused by shock after he jumped into the icy waters.

 

The local mayor said he feared further casualties as it was proving difficult to rescue the last passengers.

 

Passengers heard a large bang and were initially told the ship had shuddered to a halt for electrical reasons, before being told to put on their life-jackets, a passenger from the boat told ANSA news agency by telephone.

 

"We were having supper when the lights suddenly went out, we heard a boom and a groaning noise, and all the cutlery fell on the floor," passenger Luciano Castro told ANSA news agency.

 

Some passengers jumped into the sea in their hurry to get off the sinking ship, according to the reports.

 

"It was like a scene from the Titanic," said passenger Mara Parmegiani.

 

The local mayor said they were trying to find room to accommodate the rescued passengers, including pregnant women and children.

 

"We are trying to accommodate them anywhere we can, in schools, nurseries, hotels, anywhere that has a roof," said mayor Sergio Ortelli, who added that some passengers were even bedding down for the night in the church.

 

The Costa Crociera company, which owns the vessel, said that it was not yet possible to say what caused the problem, but that the evacuation had been fast.

 

"The ship was on a cruise in the Mediterranean, leaving from Savona with planned stops in Civitavecchia, Palermo, Cagliari, Palma, Barcelona and Marseille," the company said.

 

"There were around 1000 Italian passengers on board, as well as 500 Germans and around 150 French people," it added, without giving details about the rest.

 

The cruise ship -- which boasts 58 suites with balconies, five restaurants, 13 bars, five Jacuzzis and four swimming pools -- had set off from the Civitavecchia port near Rome earlier Friday when it ran into difficulties.

 

Boats from the nearby port helped evacuate the passengers and crew.

[bart]

It will be a good time to bury bad news....

 

Sorry,

[Black Rose]

At least it wasn't an ice-berg and it sank near to land.

 

RIP to the departed

[Mrk]

They still have to find some missing people

 

PS. Can someone merge the other thread I created with this one, please?

[LoryABjerre]

:(

 

 

Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086527/Costa-Concordia-accident-Pictures-cruise-ship-sinking-coast-Italy-Titanic-like-scene.html

 

it seems that is a cursed boat. and had already destroyed all the port of Palermo in the past

[busybeeburns]

It's only a cursed boat when the captain does something stupid like sail off course

[busybeeburns]

 

Cruise ship captain 'off course'

 

The CEO of Costa Cruises, the owner of the ship that ran aground off Italy, says the captain made an "unapproved, unauthorised" deviation in course.

 

Capt Francesco Schettino is suspected of manslaughter, but denies wrongdoing. Six people were killed and about 15 remain missing after the hull of the Costa Concordia was torn open by rocks late on Friday off the Tuscan coast. The search for survivors has temporarily been suspended after the ship slipped in rough weather.

 

"The company will be close to the captain and will provide him with all the necessary assistance, but we need to acknowledge the facts and we cannot deny human error," Costa Cruises Chief Executive Officer Pier Luigi Foschi told a news conference in Genoa. Mr Foschi said Costa's ships have their routes programmed and alarms sound when they go off course. "This route was put in correctly," he said. "The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a manoeuvre by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa.''

 

He said the ship was regularly inspected and had had a major check in November last year. At the emotional news conference, Mr Foschi fought back tears and apologised for the accident. Earlier, Costa Cruises said Capt Schettino had appeared to sail too close to land. Italian media have suggested he may have been taking the Costa Concordia close to the Tuscan island of Giglio to put on a show for the islanders.

 

Some of the passengers on board the ship described hearing a horrendous noise as the ship struck rocks at about 21:30 (20:30 GMT) on Friday. There were scenes of panic as alarms sounded soon after and the ship began to list. Capt Schettino steered the vessel closer to land to where it now lies on its side just metres off Giglio island.

 

Some of the passengers and crew were forced to swim for land as the angle of the ship made boarding life boats impossible. The 4,200 passengers and crew on board had not conducted an emergency drill after leaving on its cruise several hours earlier. Environment Minister Corrado Clini said there was an extremely high risk of a damaging spill of fuel from the ship's tanks. "The vessel has reservoirs full of fuel, it is a heavy diesel which could sink down to the seabed, that would be a disaster," he told La Stampa newspaper. "As soon as possible, the fuel will be removed from the vessel. But we have to take into account the precarious state of the ship."

 

Mr Foschi said so far there were no signs of any leakage. He said 2,300 tonnes of fuel oil were contained in 17 double-hulled tanks and more oil was in another four reservoirs. Capt Schettino, 52, has worked for Costa Cruises for 11 years. The company said he joined the firm in 2002 as an official in charge of security. He was made captain in 2006, after serving as second-in-command.

 

Like all captains in the fleet he took part in a continuous programme of training and passed all the required checks, Costa Cruises said. Capt Schettino has denied any wrongdoing, saying the rocks his ship hit were not marked on his nautical chart.

We should have had deep water beneath us," he told Italian TV. "We were about 300m (1,000ft) from the rocks more or less. We shouldn't have hit anything."

 

He also denied claims by prosecutors that he left the Costa Concordia before evacuation was complete. "We were the last to leave the ship," Capt Schettino said. First officer Ciro Ambrosio has also been detained.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16576979

[Darlene_Ihnfsa]

rip to the victims.

 

captain did a very wrong mistake and shall be punished/taken to court.

[Mrk]

The crew on board should have been trained a bit more for this kind of emergency (the fact that they had troubles with the lifeboats speaks for itself) and it seems that the capitan was trying to escape in a foreign country after what he did

[LoryABjerre]

is well known that the Italian authorities is the safety standards in their country is not perfect. politics play lots with people's lives. they like to party in Berlusconi in the past

[Saffire]

It will be a good time to bury bad news....

 

Sorry,

 

I think you're right... it will be interesting to see what the politicians pass in the next week.

[Mrk]

is well known that the Italian authorities is the safety standards in their country is not perfect. politics play lots with people's lives. they like to party in Berlusconi in the past

 

Ugh, don't name that lame guy again, please

[nancyk58]

Very sad indeed.

 

On Danish TV2 News they mentioned that there was similarities with the Titanic disaster that occurred 100 years ago, i.e. in 1912: The side of the Titanic was torn open by an iceberg, and the hull of the Costa Concordia was torn open by rocks. Water running in takes up so much space that - like the Titanic - this ship might also sink (it looks like it will from a photo of the ship I saw on TV).

 

A witness on board (one of the passengers) had seen the commander down in the bar for some hours drinking and entertaining a lady.

 

It seems to be popular to impress the people on board and also the islanders / the population of Giglio by passing the island at a very short distance. It seems that the cruise ship sailed too close to land. Italian media have suggested that the commander may have been taking the Costa Concordia close to the Tuscan island of Giglio to put on a show for the islanders.

 

The Italian Environment Minister mentions a high risk of a damaging spill of heavy diesel fuel from the cruise ship's tanks. If the fuel sinks down to the seabed, that would be a natural disaster.

 

My thoughts go out to the victims' families. And R.I.P. to the victims.

[SupermassiveCPnerd]

Such a tragic thing... :(

[busybeeburns]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR65zob5dn4]Costa Concordia: coast guard to captain: 'Get back on board the ship!' - YouTube[/ame]

[busybeeburns]

 

Costa Concordia in Italy freed from rocks

 

Engineering officials in Italy say they have succeeded in lifting the cruise ship Costa Concordia free of rocks, 20 months after it ran aground.

 

Efforts to right the ship, one of the largest and most daunting salvage operations ever undertaken, are expected to last up to 12 hours. The ship has been detached from rocks and moved on to a platform constructed on the sea bed, officials said. Thirty-two people died when the ship ran aground off the Tuscan coast.

 

The bodies of two of those killed in the January 2012 disaster, by the island of Giglio, have never been found. There are hopes that they may be located during the operation, although officials said on Monday there was no sign of them so far.

 

Engineers have never tried to lift such a huge ship - over 951 feet long (290m) - so close to land. Officials have said the first phase of the salvage operation will take another four to six hours to complete.

 

 

The start of this huge operation was potentially the most problematic phase, and the stage that worried the engineers the most, says the BBC's Alan Johnston, at the scene.

 

But now the ship has been broken away from the reef on which she has been lying, the hope is that it will now be possible to rotate the wreck more easily, he adds.

 

The Italian Civil Protection Authority said the sea and weather conditions had mostly been right for the attempt, but the operation had to be delayed by three hours because of an overnight storm.

 

The storm delayed the positioning of a barge carrying a remote control room close to the shipwreck, from where engineers were using pulleys and counterweights to move the Concordia from the steep underwater incline it is resting on.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24104741

[busybeeburns]

Costa Concordia captain blames helmsman for crash

 

The Costa Concordia has been pulled upright in a major salvage operation off the coast of Italy

 

Costa Concordia captain blames helmsman for crash

 

The captain of the Costa Concordia has blamed his Indonesian helmsman for the accident which caused the ship to sink off the coast of Italy last year.

 

Francesco Schettino told a court the helmsman failed to obey orders to slow down and steered the ship onto rocks.

 

Thirty-two people died when the cruise ship capsized in January 2012.

 

Mr Schettino is charged with manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship, but says he is being made a scapegoat for others' errors.

 

Last week the 290m-long vessel was raised upright in a major salvage operation off the coast of Giglio island.

 

The captain said there would have been no crash if the helmsman, who has already been convicted in a separate manslaughter trial, had heeded an order to steer away from rocks.

 

"If it weren't for the helmsman's error, to not position the tiller to the left... the swerve (toward the reef) and the collision wouldn't have happened," Mr Schettino said.

 

Mr Schettino claimed that if the helmsman had quickly executed the correct manoeuvre, the Concordia would have steered away from the jagged reef that sliced a 70m gash in the ship's hull.

 

Investigators have said previously language problems between the captain and the helmsman might have played a role in crash.

 

But one maritime expert told the trial, which is expected to last several weeks, that the helmsman's mistake and slow reaction were not crucial factors.

 

"The helmsman was 13 seconds late in executing the manoeuvre, but the crash would have happened anyway,'' Italian naval Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone said.

 

Mr Schettino is the sole defendant in the trial, which has resumed after a summer recess. If convicted he faces up to 20 years in prison.

 

At the time of the crash, the ship had deviated from its pre-established course because Mr Schettino wanted to impress passengers with a close-up view of the island.

 

Mr Schettino's defence team wants experts enter the ship to determine why safety equipment - including water pumps, an emergency generator and water-tight doors - failed to function.

 

"The power generator, as are the other devices, are fundamental to understanding what happened that night," Schettino's lawyer, Francesco Pepe, said outside court. "We want to understand why they didn't work."

 

The defence team want the responsibility for the tragedy to placed not just on Mr Schettino but on other employees of Costa Crociere, the Concordia's owners.

 

The helmsman, Jacob Rusli Bin, is one of five Costa Crociere employees who were granted plea bargains in return for mild sentences in a separate proceeding. He was given a sentence of one year and eight months.

 

"It is unfair that we have only one defendant," said lawyer Michelina Suriano.

 

Engineers last week succeeded in righting the Concordia in an operation unprecedented in scale.

 

It his hoped that the bodies of two of the victims missing since the disaster will now be found.

 

Over the next few months the vessel will be assessed and repaired before being towed away and later destroyed.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24210522

[busybeeburns]

Costa Concordia trial: Captain's lover was on bridge

 

 

Costa Concordia trial: Captain's lover was on bridge

 

A Moldovan dancer who was on the bridge of the Costa Concordia with Captain Francesco Schettino has admitted she was his lover at his trial.

 

Domnica Cemortan testified that she was in a romantic relationship with the captain and was with him when the cruise ship ran aground off the north-west Italian coast. Capt Schettino faces multiple charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. The January 2012 tragedy killed 32 people. The captain faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

 

Ms Cemortan has been the subject of intense media interest, says the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome. On the night the Costa Concordia ran aground, she had dinner with the captain before he invited her to join him on the bridge as he oversaw what was meant to be a close sail-past of the little Tuscan island of Giglio.

 

Local press have speculated the captain may have been distracted by her presence, or even showing off. In court, Ms Cemortan acknowledged after being pressed that they had been romantically involved. She had boarded the ship as a non-paying passenger hours before the crash, she said, adding: "When you are someone's lover, no-one asks you for a ticket." She subsequently dismissed the remark as a joke to her translator.

 

She said she had worked for the company that operated the Costa Concordia for about three weeks in December 2011, and had met Capt Schettino on a previous cruise. After the ship hit the rocks, Ms Cemortan said the captain urged her to "save herself".

 

She told court that she helped other passengers to abandon ship before getting into a lifeboat herself. The court is expected to hear evidence from about 1,000 surviving passengers and crew during Capt Schettino's trial. In testimony earlier in the day, ship maitre d' Antonello Tievoli told the court in Grossetto, Tuscany, that he had asked the captain if he could sail close to the island of Giglio because he has family there, the news agency AP reported.

 

The captain obliged on 6 January, but was apparently disappointed with the result, and ordered the ship's helmsman to plot a closer route for next time. A week later, the ship ran aground on rocks after veering too close to the island, with 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew aboard. The captain has acknowledged fault in the tragedy, but his defence team is arguing the ship sank in part because watertight doors did not function on the ship.

 

The Costa Concordia was righted in September

 

He also told the court in late September that his Indonesian helmsman was to blame for steering the ship onto rocks and ignoring orders to slow down. However, an Italian naval expert told the trial these were not crucial factors and the crash would have happened anyway.

 

The helmsman, Jacob Rusli Bin, is one of five employees who were granted plea bargains in return for mild sentences in a separate proceeding. He was given a sentence of one year and eight months. The 290m-long vessel was righted last month in one of the largest, most complex salvage operations ever that took 18 hours and followed months of stabilisation and preparation work by a team of 500 engineers and divers.

 

That operation allowed divers to retrieve the remains of one of the two people still missing in the disaster, a young waiter. An Italian passenger, Maria Grazia Trecarichi, is still unaccounted for. Plans are now being made to attempt to remove the wreckage of the boat next year.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24733882