Monday, April 22, 2024

Italian cruise ship sets sail for first time in months after pandemic nearly sunk the industry

cruise liner crash italy

The Concordia was supposed to take passengers on a seven-day Italian cruise from Civitavecchia to Savona. But when it deviated from its planned path to sail closer to the island of Giglio, the ship struck a reef known as the Scole Rocks. The impact damaged the ship, allowing water to seep in and putting the 4,229 people on board in danger. An investigation focused on shortcomings in the procedures followed by Costa Concordia's crew and the actions of her captain, Francesco Schettino, who left the ship prematurely. He left about 300 passengers on board the sinking vessel, most of whom were rescued by helicopter or motorboats in the area. Despite receiving its own share of criticism, Costa Cruises and its parent company, Carnival Corporation, did not face criminal charges.

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The Carnival sinking cruise ship 2012 incident underscored the need for more intensive crew training, emergency preparedness, and passenger safety briefings. These revisions were not mere suggestions but mandatory steps to solidify trust in cruise vacations for passengers and crew members alike. We solemnly remember the concordia deaths that irreversibly marked the Costa Concordia’s profound tragedy. My thoughts persistently drift to the 32 individuals whose lives were unjustly claimed by the cruise wreck, a cruise ship disaster Italy will never forget.

Top US publishing executive killed in Italian boat crash - The Telegraph

Top US publishing executive killed in Italian boat crash.

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Survivors’ Harrowing Escape

Ultimately, it took more than an hour for Schettino to give the order to abandon ship. By that point, the vessel was already tilted at a 30-degree angle, complicating some of the rescue effort. About 20 minutes later, even as hundreds of passengers continued to await rescue, Schettino abandoned his post and left his second in command in charge of the evacuation.

Trials

The captain, Francesco Schettino, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all the passengers and crew had evacuated. When the Costa Concordia succumbed to the sea, it represented a Concordia cruise disaster and raised immediate environmental concerns the Costa Concordia area had to contend with. The marine sanctuary, which could have suffered irreversible damage due to the cruise liner sinking in 2012, desperately needed protective measures.

It was not until September 2013 that the 114,000-ton Concordia was finally righted. The 19-hour process involved specially built underwater platforms, cranes, and some 500 people. In July 2014 the Concordia—outfitted with a number of steel containers serving as flotation devices—was towed to Genoa, Italy, where it was dismantled for scrap. The Costa Concordia was owned by Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & PLC. When launched in 2005, it was Italy’s largest cruise ship, measuring 951 feet (290 metres) long with a passenger capacity of 3,780; by comparison, the Titanic was 882.5 feet (269 metres) long and could accommodate up to 2,435 passengers.

cruise liner crash italy

“From the happiness and wonder of being on a cruise, we passengers became panic stricken and fell over. Just as the ship was making its way north-west along the coastline, Schettino called for the vessel to be steered close to Giglio as a way to “salute” the island. That night, after dining with Cemortan, Schettino invited her to the bridge of the cruise liner, where he took command of the vessel. The calamity caused changes in the cruise industry like carrying more lifejackets and holding emergency drills before leaving port. Following the conclusion of the righting operation, the ship was kept on the platform while further inspections were made and the starboard sponsons attached.

What role did the Costa Crociere’s crisis coordinator play in the Costa Concordia tragedy?

Martine Muller and her husband were given the cruise as a birthday gift from her children. She told the Guardian at the time how she was frantically asking everyone she knew whether they had news from her husband, while she waited at the port. Even as the crew began to frantically assess the damage and start the emergency diesel generator, Schettino ordered them to tell passengers that the ship had simply suffered an electrical outage and that everything was under control. 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."

cruise liner crash italy

The Costa Concordia Disaster: How Human Error Made It Worse

GIGLIO, Italy — Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio. NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella caught up with a group of survivors on TODAY Wednesday, a decade after they escaped a maritime disaster that claimed the lives of 32 people. The Italian cruise ship ran aground off the tiny Italian island of Giglio after striking an underground rock and capsizing. 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 anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of virus outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. Thirty-two people died when the ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Ortelli was later on hand when, in September 2013, the 115,000-ton, 1,000-foot long cruise ship was righted vertical off its seabed graveyard in an extraordinary feat of engineering. 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.

With an opulent passenger capacity of 3,780, it heralded a new era of maritime luxury. An Indonesian helmsman, for instance, failed twice to understand orders, veering to the right instead of the left as he was told by Schettino, who joked he should pay closer attention or “we will go on the rocks,” only minutes before they dram aground. "It was just said in court that musicians on board had more safety training than other crew members," Eaves told NBC. Monday’s hearing was the first and most important in a preliminary trial, aimed at establishing who should be indicted over the disaster. For more than two months, Israel has threatened to send troops into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but even without such an operation, Rafah is under regular bombardment.

Dozens of cruise ships, out of commission during the pandemic that brought tourism and demand for trips on the massive liners to a halt, have been docked off Italy's coasts for a year and a half. The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, had been performing a sail-past salute of Giglio when he steered the ship too close to the island and hit the jagged reef, opening a 230-foot gash in the side of the cruise liner. Italian cruise line Costa Cruises took to the seas on Saturday for the first time in more than four months, buoying an industry capsized by the COVID-19 pandemic. The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia was owned by Costa Cruises, an Italian cruise line company. It’s easy to remember the salacious details of the disaster – the Concordia cruise disaster, if you will – but as a witness and chronicler of these events, my focus has always returned to the environmental impact. The work done by salvage teams was not just a technical achievement but a concerted effort to preserve a vulnerable ecosystem that had the misfortune of being the stage for this tragedy.

I reached my master station and was in charge of a roll call for 25 crew members to embark on a life raft. I remember it was a beautiful night, a starry night, the sea was very calm and quiet. The youngest victim of the disaster was a five-year-old girl named Dayana Arlotti, who drowned with her father after they were told there was no space in a lifeboat. 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. 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.

Almost immediately questions were raised concerning the conduct of Schettino and other crew officers. In July 2013 four crew members and Costa Crociere’s crisis coordinator pled guilty to various charges, including manslaughter. He was charged with manslaughter as well as causing the wreck and abandoning ship.

In 2015, a court found Schettino guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship before passengers and crew were evacuated and lying to authorities about the disaster. In addition to Schettino, Ferrarini and Rusli Bin, the other people who received convictions for their role in the disaster were Cabin Service Director Manrico Giampedroni, First Officer Ciro Ambrosio and Third Officer Silvia Coronica. Whether or not Captain Francesco Schettino was trying to impress his girlfriend is debatable. The wreck was not the fault of unexpected weather or ship malfunction—it was a disaster caused entirely by a series of human errors.

Venice cruise ship crash in 2019 was caused by captain's incompetence - Art Newspaper

Venice cruise ship crash in 2019 was caused by captain's incompetence.

Posted: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The Costa Concordia began to drift and, investigators later explained, list as a result of water in the damaged hull. By 10.15pm, the Italian coastguard began getting reports of trouble on board directly from the passengers, but Schettino still did not react. The 3,299 passengers who boarded the Costa Concordia on 13 January in the Italian port city of Civitavecchia for their seven-day cruise around the Mediterranean had much to enjoy. There were 1,500 cabins, one of the largest fitness centres at sea, a Turkish bath and solarium, a poolside movie theatre on the main pool deck, and 13 bars, including one devoted to cognac. 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. Locals are unhappy about unsightly liners marring the seaside views, making constant sound, and the potential for their negative environmental impact on the surrounding towns, according to a Fortune report published Monday.

The boat would stay off the coast of the island for another ten years until being removed in 2014. The passengers, whose infections were found through random testing, were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, according to the Port of San Francisco. As workers began to break apart the ship in Genoa, and they discovered the body of Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter. The married commander, now 54, was accompanied by his lover, Domnica Cemortan, a classically trained dancer from Moldova. The struggle reflects the difficult reality of an industry battered by the pandemic.

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