Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Costa Concordia: Italian tragedy that reflected state of a nation Costa Concordia

italian cruise ship sinking

During the 19-month trial, prosecutors claimed that he was an “idiot,” while Schettino countered that his actions had saved lives and that he was being scapegoated. In addition, he noted the steering error by the helmsman, but a maritime expert testified that regardless of the mistake, the collision was unavoidable. In February 2015 Schettino was convicted on all charges and sentenced to more than 16 years in prison. He appealed the verdict, but it was upheld in May 2017; Schettino began serving his sentence shortly thereafter. The Costa Concordia was owned by Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & PLC.

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For Concordia survivor Georgia Ananias, the COVID-19 infections are just the latest evidence that passenger safety still isn’t a top priority for the cruise ship industry. Passengers aboard the Concordia were largely left on their own to find life jackets and a functioning lifeboat after the captain steered the ship close too shore in a stunt. He then delayed an evacuation order until it was too late, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was listing too heavily.

italian cruise ship sinking

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That night, after dining with Cemortan, Schettino invited her to the bridge of the cruise liner, where he took command of the vessel. A decade after that harrowing night, the survivors are grateful to have made it out alive. None of the survivors who spoke with Cobiella have been on a cruise since that day.

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Cruise ship shop worker Fabio Costa said when people realised there was a serious problem, there were scenes of desperation. Then the ship rolled again, now listing to the right, and the captain ordered the ship to be abandoned. "The boat started shaking. The noise - there was panic, like in a film, dishes crashing to the floor, people running, people falling down the stairs," said survivor Fulvio Rocci. The divers wear wetsuits reinforced with Kevlar — the same material used to make bullet-proof vests — and have a guide line to open water, just as they do when exploring caves.

Thirty-two people died when the ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio. The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull. The final mad scramble to evacuate the listing liner and then the extraordinary generosity of Giglio islanders who offered shoes, sweatshirts and shelter until the sun rose and passengers were ferried to the mainland.

Trials

Elizabeth Nanni, of Isola del Giglio Tourist Information, said those who arrived on the island were survivors in a state of shock, ''desperate people looking for each other'' and people suffering from hypothermia after jumping into the sea. Some people decided it was too difficult to get on to a lifeboat and chose to swim, with a number safely reaching the nearby island of Giglio. Italian cave-rescue divers are painstakingly checking thousands of debris-filled cabins on the Italian liner Monday for more than 20 people still unaccounted for out of the 4,200 who were on board.

Escape: The Wreck of the Costa Concordia, Part 2

I was working in a very elegant bar at the back of the ship called Bar Vienna. I remember it was a beautiful night, a starry night, the sea was very calm and quiet. De Falco became such a hero that, when it emerged more than a year later that he had been transferred out of operational service into a desk job, his apparent mistreatment created a new spate of soul-searching in Italy.

What Does Italy’s Sinking Ship Mean for the Cruise Industry?

But after eight years in the US and then Italian court system, they lost their case. "I felt like (my daughters) were going to get trampled, and putting my arms around them and just holding them together and letting the sea of people go by us." With Giglio Island lying in a protected marine area, environmental issues relating to the Concordia wreck were of particular concern. The vessel was on the edge of an underwater cliff, leading to worries that the ship might slip and break apart, causing an oil spill. To lessen any potential damage, oil booms were placed around the wreckage, and in February 2012 salvage workers began removing more than 2,000 tons of fuel; the undertaking was completed the following month. Ananias and her family declined Costa’s initial $14,500 compensation offered to each passenger and sued Costa, a unit of U.S.-based Carnival Corp., to try to cover the cost of their medical bills and therapy for the post-traumatic stress they have suffered.

Costa Concordia captain given 16 year sentence

Some suggested the country did not know how to reward people who showed good character. “I did that to calm the passengers down, I feared that otherwise there would be panic,” Schettino said in his defence at trial. Ten years after the deadly Costa Concordia cruise line disaster in Italy, survivors still vividly remember scenes of chaos they say were like something straight out of the movie "Titanic." The struggle reflects the difficult reality of an industry battered by the pandemic. Mr Metcalf, from Dorset, told the BBC his daughter had phoned to say she was safe but that she had feared she would have to jump into the sea. She said blankets and clothes were provided for those who arrived on the island, while churches and schools were opened to ensure that people had a roof over their head.

Costa Concordia captain hands himself into prison - The Guardian

Costa Concordia captain hands himself into prison.

Posted: Fri, 12 May 2017 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Costa Concordia was declared a "constructive total loss" by the cruise line's insurer, and her salvage was "one of the biggest maritime salvage operations". On 16 September 2013, the parbuckle salvage of the ship began, and by the early hours of 17 September, the ship was set upright on her underwater cradle. In July 2014, the ship was refloated using sponsons (flotation tanks) welded to her sides, and was towed 320 kilometres (200 mi) to her home port of Genoa for scrapping, which was completed in July 2017. The sad anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of COVID-19 outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month warned people across-the-board not to go on cruises, regardless of their vaccination status, because of the risks of infection. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month warned people across-the-board not to go on cruises, regardless of their vaccination status, because of the risks of infection.

Rescuers were painstakingly checking thousands of cabins on the Italian liner for 16 people still unaccounted for out of the 4,200 who were on board. Francesco Schettino, the captain of the cruise liner, was jailed for 16 years for multiple manslaughter after the disaster that left 32 people dead. On 13 January 2012, the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Tuscany after hitting a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The salvage of the Costa Concordia was the most expensive such operation in history, with an estimated cost of $1.2bn. The operation, led by a wisecracking South African named Nick Sloane, involved first moving the capsized vessel into an upright position, and then slowly shifting it into deeper water. In such an unprecedented operation, environmental contamination was a constant threat, with tonnes of rotting food, passenger belongings and other items still located on the vessel.

"Everybody was trying to get on the boats at the same time. When people had to get on the lifeboats they were pushing each other. It was a bit chaotic. We were trying to keep passengers calm but it was just impossible. Nobody knew what was going on." Monica, a German passenger who was in the cruise liner's theatre when the ship began to suffer problems, said it was hard to reach the lifeboats. It happened on Friday evening and marked the start of hours of panic among the 4,000 people on board the cruise ship. Worsening weather and heavy seas earlier made the wreck slip on the rocky underwater slope where it is lodged off the island of Giglio and rescue teams were evacuated. Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off the west coast of Italy, at Giglio island.

Few of the 500-odd residents of the fishermen’s village will ever forget the freezing night of Jan. 13, 2012, when the Costa Concordia shipwrecked, killing 32 people and upending life on the island for years. Arnold Donald, chief executive of international cruiseline company Carnival, told Fox Business in June that the company has "far more demand than we have ships available to supply right now." A vice president of Legambiente Liguria told Fortune the organization is considering forming a petition to ask the Italian government to prevent cruise ship operators from parking their ships near Italy's most scenic locations. "We were on the same level as the water so some people started to swim because they weren't able to get on the lifeboats," said Mr Costa. Mr Ordona said his colleagues and passengers were waiting to use lifeboats but the change in the direction the boat was sinking prompted them to seek lifeboats on the other side of the ship. The chief executive of the ship’s owners, Costa Cruises, on Monday blamed human error by Schettino for the disaster.

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