Cruise Ship Costa Concordia - MERGED THREADS

[boatman61]

Sometimes all the equipment in the world can't save you...
Three die after huge Italian cruise ship runs aground - Yahoo! News

[SaucySailoress]

OMG. So, is that two cruise ships aground in the matter of a week?

Once is a mistake... Twice is...?

[Patient]

Video here: BBC News - Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

From another article:

"said the vessel "hit an obstacle" — it wasn't clear if it might have hit a rocky reef in the waters off Giglio — "ripping a gash 50 meters (160 feet) across" in the side of the ship, and started taking on water."

Could you imagine being below and seeing/hearing that?

"The cruise liner's captain, Paolillo said, then tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio's small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier."

That decision right there saved a lot of lives I am guessing. Another news source said it rammed the pier as shown in the picture below.


Source: The Daily Mirror

Here it is at dawn:

Source: http://www.avidcruiser.com/

What I don't understand is how it has moved so far away from the pier, which is not even visible in the image above.

[David_Old_Jersey]

See, the Mono didn't sink!

[scubascooter]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

See, the Mono didn't sink!

I think they saw your avatar DOJ. Thats scary enough to sink anything!

[boatman61]

People talking about lifeboats being launched in panic onto others already in the water... poor training in use... fire... its a PR disaster for Cruise companies..

[MacG]

These monsters are a screaming nightmare in case of any serious accident.
No free deckspace to speak of, everything sheltered and becomes a deathtrap.
This accident happened under moderate circumstances, help and hospitals very near - the detroit between the peninsula Porto Santo di Stefano and Giglio is about 12 nm.
The sea around the island Giglio is reasonably deep, so the navigator pressed his luck and had obviously no situational awareness of any sort.

These boats are no more than floating hotels with a minimum of attention to all over safety. These boats are no regular ships with good maneuvering capacities and are in windy conditions monsters to handle. Particularly at very low speeds.

This is just not a repetition of the Titanic drama but could have been in a bad weather situation. Alarming is the relative instability of the vessel in case of loadshifts.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Patient

Video here: BBC News - Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

From another article:
Could you imagine being below and seeing/hearing that?

That decision right there saved a lot of lives I am guessing. Another news source said it rammed the pier as shown in the picture below.


Source: The Daily Mirror

Here it is at dawn:

Source: Cruise, Ship Reviews Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, Holland American

What I don't understand is how it has moved so far away from the pier, which is not even visible in the image above.

on a brighter note the small port now has a breakwater that is 300m longer

[Factor]

People dead and we get smarmy comments like monos dont sink, and longer breakwaters. Unbelievable.

[tartansail]

Originally Posted by boatman61

People talking about lifeboats being launched in panic onto others already in the water... poor training in use... fire... its a PR disaster for Cruise companies..

One of the stories said that they scheduled the evacuation drill for Saturday afternoon. Passengers were joking about what would happen if they needed to evacuate on Friday.

Perhaps a lesson to all of us to do the emergency procedures briefing for new crew and guests before we leave the dock/mooring and not wait for the end of the first day.

[MacG]

@Factor
We live in a cynical world but I am sure that everyone is as much bewildered that such incidents may happen as you are.

In our family there is since the launch of those floating containers a long standing discussion of what will happen if such a ship is victim of a sudden accident and thousands lives are lost. Well, there are meanwhile a few examples. Not yet in Titanic terms, but catastrophic nonetheless.

[bobconnie]

Ive spent over 3/4 of my life at sea, in many types of vessels. The wife talked me into a " Cruise" 7 days on a Cruise Line to be un-named. All I can say is these things are a death trap ! to many folks and not enough ROOM on deck to swing a mouse!! un trained life boat crews ect ect even out of date fire gear!! NEVER AGAIN !! felt uncomfortable all the time !! Food was great tho !! LOL Bob and Connie

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Factor

People dead and we get smarmy comments like monos dont sink, and longer breakwaters. Unbelievable.

It's part of the grieving process

[MacG]

Costa Cruises is involved in two earlier serious accidents where lives were lost and that due to the lack of situational awareness. 20 October 2010 the Costa Classica had a collision with a Chinese freighter and damaged their ship considerably; 26 Feb. at Sharm el Sheikh the officers of Costa Europa managed to get the ship in problems whilst entering the port causing 3 crewmembers deaths and 3 passengers seriously wounded. The passengers were obligated to embark the vessel ending their holiday untimely.

The big problem on board - safety related - is the Babylonian mix up of crew and languages. Crew comes from all over the world and cannot always communicate with passengers and among themselves. This leading to chaotic sceneries in case of panic.
This third accident therefore does, not come as a surprise.

[S/V Alchemy]

Don't name your ship "Concordia"...it seems cursed.

Concordia (ship) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia