Tag: Costa Concordia

Costa Concordia Disaster Italian divers suspended their search of the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia after the vessel shifted slightly on its resting place near the Tuscan island of Giglio, officials said on Wednesday.Fire services spokesman Luca Cari said the search was suspended at about 8.00 a.m (0700 GMT) after a shift of a few centimetres, posing a potential threat to diving teams operating in the submerged spaces of the ship.There was no word on when work might resume.Source: Reuters

Lloyd's List video David Osler and Liz McMahon speak to Lloyd's List Editor Richard Meade about the further implications of the grounding of Costa Concordia

Q&A re Costa Concordia accident One of Europe's largest cruise ships, the Costa Concordia, carrying 4200 passengers and crew, suffered a fatal and spectacular accident on Saturday. The vessel was holed on rocks off the Italian island of Giglio - and then quickly keeled over, preventing lifeboats on its port side from being lowered and trapping some passengers and crew in the bowels of the ship. At 12:00GMT today, six people had been confirmed dead and a further 15 were missing. So how stable and safe are these vertiginous floating multistorey hotels?Why was this massive ship so close to shallow rock outcrops?Mark Staunton-Lambert, technical director of the London-based Royal Institution of Naval Architects, says this is the main question investigators will want answering. GPS and sonar instruments should have warned of the danger, he says.Why might the Costa Concordia's depth-sounding sonar have been ignored?Like aviation, seafaring is in the midst of major computerisation, with bridges in modern ships like Costa Concordia becoming "glass cockpits". The transnational maritime trade union Nautilus International says that the technology at the heart of this - the Electronic Charts Display and Information System (ECDIS), which marries GPS and seabed sonar data in one screen - ...

Statement from Micky Arison The following statement is from Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc, parent company of Costa Cruises:"We are deeply saddened by the reports of additional deaths following the grounding of the Costa Concordia. On behalf of the entire Carnival Corporation & plc team, I offer our heartfelt condolences to all of those families affected by this tragedy.Our immediate priority continues to be supporting rescue and recovery efforts and looking after our guests and crew members, along with securing the vessel to ensure there is no environmental impact. My senior management team and I have been in continuous contact with the Costa executive team in Italy and we have our senior level technical experts on the ground to provide additional support for this tragic and highly unusual incident.While this is a terribly sad time for everyone involved, we want to recognize the tremendous efforts of Concordia's crew, who along with the Italian Coast Guard and authorities, helped to evacuate more than 4,000 passengers and crew members from the ship in very difficult conditions. And we continue to offer our deep gratitude to the Italian authorities for their support and ongoing efforts."Source : Carnival Corporation ...

Maps and graphics of the disaster The stricken cruise ship as seen from spaceAt least 11 people died and 24 are missing after the Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground with more than 4,000 passengers and crew on 13 January, only hours after leaving the Italian port of Civitavecchia. The maps and graphics below reveal details about the vessel and its ill-fated journey.At 9:30pm (2030 GMT), two and a half hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia, the Costa Concordia hit a rocky outcrop as it sailed past the island of Giglio.As the ship took on water, the captain tried to turn it towards the island's port, but the ship started to tilt and sink.At 10:10pm, the abandon ship signal was given. Most passengers escaped in lifeboats, but evacuation efforts were hampered by the angle of the tilting ship and others were winched to safety by helicopter.The rescue continued over the weekend, with the ship's safety officer, Marrico Giampietroni, being discovered and evacuated with a broken leg at 12:00pm on Sunday. A South Korean couple were also rescued. The search continues for the missing.A recording has been released in which the coastguard is heard ordering the captain to 'get back ...

Schettino was repeatedly refusing to return to the sinking vessel A frantic Coast Guard officer berated the captain of the capsized Costa Concordia as he sat safe in a life raft, refusing to return to his ship and direct the evacuation order."You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me?" the Coast Guard officer shouted at Capt. Francesco Schettino."It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'Abandon ship.' Now I am in charge."A damning recording of Coast Guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco shouting at Schettino to return to the ship was posted online Tuesday by Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra. The Coast Guard authenticated the recording.In the radio exchange, Schettino can be heard repeatedly refusing to return to the sinking vessel from a lifeboat to help co-ordinate the frantic evacuation."I am here with the rescue boats. I am here. I am not going anywhere. I am here," he said. "I am here to co-ordinate the rescue.""What are you co-ordinating there? Go on board! Coordinate the rescue from aboard the ship. Are you refusing?" came the response from De Falco."You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is ...

Costa Concordia coast guard tape

Costa Concordia Environmental Impact As Italian rescue crews dealt with a major cruise ship wreck Tuesday, the tragedy of missing persons and rising casualties from the Costa Concordia were not their only concerns.The ship, which is foundering within Italy's largest protected marine area, also contains several thousand gallons of heavy fuel oil and diesel.Officials in the area say that a potential fuel spill from the ship "would be a disaster," reports BBC News.The waters and Tuscan Archipelago near the wrecked ship contain rare and important plants and animals, including the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal.So far, no fuel has spilled from the wreck and officials are racing to keep it that way. According to The Guardian, booms have been staged around the wreck and a Dutch salvage firm has been hired to extract the ship's fuel.The salvage team may begin inspecting the ship on Wednesday and, according to The Washington Post, complete the fuel extraction within two to four weeks.The Washington Post reports the salvage company's manager of operations, Kees van Essen, said "The vessel is stable and we feel confident that removal can be done in a fairly rapid way." He added that a salvage operation won't "increase the ...

Incident investigation

"Women and children first!" It's been suggested women and children were not given priority for lifeboats when the Costa Concordia capsized. But are there rules governing who leaves a sinking ship first?It's a famous moment in the Titanic story. "Women and children first!" went the cry.It's too early to know exactly what happened in the final hours of the Costa Concordia. The captain has already had to deny allegations he left the ship before everyone had been evacuated.And it has been reported that some male passengers ignored informal injunctions to wait until women and children had made it into the lifeboats.How did the priority rule begin? This protocol started when HMS Birkenhead sank in 1852 "Women and children first" phrase coined in 1860 RMS Titanic disaster in 1912 popularised the rule Only 20% of men on board Titanic were saved It is not a part of international maritime lawEdwin Gurd, a retired police chief, told the Times. "We were keen for women and children to go first, and men if they had babies or families. A lot of men regardless of that were trying to save themselves."But is the traditional maxim of women and children going first really part of ...