Thread: Italy :Three dead and thousands evacuated as cruise ship runs aground

Originally Posted by peterpan

Old age and alcohol, not a good Mix AO

Are you talking about me?

Dont these ships have a 'black box' now, just like a planes flight recorder ?

Originally Posted by Bower

Dont these ships have a 'black box' now, just like a planes flight recorder ?

It was said in the news that they have.

and it has been recovered.

been to that island several times, best diving in italy there, now there will also be some great wreck diving soon...

Originally Posted by aging one

Not Carnival mate, Costa Cruise lines out of Italy.

Costa is owned and controlled by Carnival, along with other brands like Cunard, according to a report I read on Bloomberg earlier.......

Originally Posted by Spin

Originally Posted by aging one

Not Carnival mate, Costa Cruise lines out of Italy.

Costa is owned and controlled by Carnival, along with other brands like Cunard, according to a report I read on Bloomberg earlier.......

Correct, and that's why Carnival shares took a royal fucking battering yesterday.

Costa Accident Pressures Carnival Stock; Uncertainty Over Liability Requires Wide Margin of Safety
by Jaime Katz | 16 Jan 12


Carnival Corporation's CCL CUK Italian ship, the Costa Concordia, was abandoned on Jan. 13 after striking a rock off the coast of Italy which caused severe damage to the hull that caused the ship to list. In light of panicked reviews and the confirmation of deaths with no clear understanding of the total liability for the company, the stock traded off close to 20% on the London Exchange on Jan. 16.

We are raising our uncertainty rating to very high from high until we better understand the full liability potential of the incident and can determine the impact of this news on the important booking (wave) season. Although we believe that the cruise industry is positioned well to benefit from overall supply and demand trends, we think earnings this year are at risk as this incident weighs in the forefront of travelers minds. As most cruisers on the ship tend to reserve between five to six months out, January puts us in the critical booking period for third quarter cruising, which was responsible for 70% of total earnings per share in 2011. We find that this also comes at a challenging time considering the weakness in European economies and the still uncertain political environment in the southern Mediterranean. Although Carnival has made some strategic repositioning of ships over the last year, Europe remains a critical market for the company and an accident like this in addition to an already weak environment could prove problematic for the company over the near term.

Carnival did respond to both the travelers, with condolences, and to the investing community, with revised earnings guidance for 2012. The immediate impact of the Costa Concordia accident is expected to cost the company $85 million to $95 million ($0.11 to $0.12 per share) if the ship is out of service for the 2012 year. The company does have insurance for damage with a deductible of $30 million for the vessel, however, Carnival self insures for loss of use, which could be significant if the $650 million ship is beyond repair. Similarly, the company has a $10 million deductible on third party personal injury liabilities. We are not privy to the stipulations on either insurance contract, nor are we experts in Italian maritime law, so we will hold off on claiming to have grasp of total liabilities for now. We believe Carnival has a strong balance sheet that will help whether what has turned out to be nothing short of a public relations nightmare, and that after some time has passed consumers will remember that the cruise industry has been around for 40 years and has a fairly pristine safety record.

We will lower our 2012 estimate by $0.18 to $2.42 for the 2012 year, which would be just below the implied guidance (adjusted for the $0.12 impact for the accident, the company's previously issued range would fall to $2.43 to $2.73). These adjustments also reduce our fair value estimate to $37 from $40 for the U.S.-traded shares and to GBX 2,334 from GBX 2,470 for the U.K.-traded shares. However, we acknowledge that there could be some downside risk to this number if the liability turns out to be greater than management currently anticipates or if media coverage of the incident adversely impacts wave-season booking and pricing activity. Our long-term thesis for Carnival remains intact, but believe near-term complications require a wide margin of safety before taking a position in Carnival's stock.

Coastguard raged at liner captain, tape shows

Reuters – 7 hrs ago

• 

• Article: Audio: Cruise captain pleaded not to reboard ship 7 hrs ago
• Article: Minn. couple missing after Italian ship capsized 7 hrs ago

Related Content

• Play Video Video: Cruise captain argued over reboarding shipAP 2:09 | 105516 views
• View Gallery Military rescuers patrol next to the Costa Concordia on January 15 after the cruise …

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian coast guard angrily ordered the captain of the capsized Italian cruise ship to go back aboard to oversee the evacuation, But he did not, according to a recording of their dramatic exchange played on national television.

The recording reflected the chaos and confusion in the minutes after the Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew, hit a rock off the Tuscany coast Friday night and keeled over.

Captain Francesco Schettino, who had already taken to a lifeboat, can be heard talking to Gregorio De Falco, a coast guard official based in the western Italian port of Livorno.

Eleven people have been confirmed killed and 23 are still missing.

De Falco later gave an interview to a local newspaper in Livorno in which he said he could tell by the "tone of the captain's voice" that something was very wrong. Schettino's lawyer said he would not comment.

The recording is full of background noises such as radio static, beeps and background noise of people and confusion.

As translated by Reuters, the entire conversation went as follows:
Coast Guard: Hello.

Captain: Good evening, chief.
Coast Guard: Listen, this is De Falco from Livorno. Am I speaking with the captain?

Captain: Good evening, Chief De Falco.

Coast Guard: Tell me your name, please.

Captain: I am Captain Schettino, chief.

Coast Guard: Schettino?

Captain: Yes.



Coast Guard: Listen, Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now, you go with your lifeboat. Under the bow of the ship, on the right side, there is a ladder. You climb on that ladder and go on board the ship. Go on board the ship and get back to me and tell me how many people are there. Is that clear. I am recording this conversation, Captain Schettino.

(Captain tries to speak but Coast Guard can't hear him clearly. Voices in the Coast Guard room.)

Coast Guard: Speak up! (captain tries to speak) Captain, put your hand over the microphone and speak in a louder voice!

Captain: At this moment the ship is listing.

Coast Guard: There are people who are coming down the ladder on the bow. Go back in the opposite direction, get back on the ship, and tell me how many people there are and what they have on board. Tell me if there are children, women and what type of help they need. And you tell me the number of each of these categories. Is that clear?

Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Dammit, go back on board!
(Noise can be heard in the background. Apparently other Coast Guard officers are shouting to each other in the same room about "the ship, the ship")

Captain: Please ...

Coast Guard: There is no 'please' about it. Get back on board. Assure me you are going back on board!

Captain: I'm in a lifeboat, I am under here. I am not going anywhere. I am here.

Coast Guard: What are you doing, captain?

Captain: I am here to coordinate the rescue...

Coast Guard (interrupting): What are you coordinating there! Get on board! Coordinate the rescue from on board! Are you refusing?

Captain: No, I am not refusing.

Coast Guard: Are you refusing to go aboard, captain? Tell me the reason why you are not going back on board.

Captain: (inaudible)... there is a another lifeboat...

Coast Guard (interrupting, yelling): You get back on board! That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. You have sounded the "Abandon Ship." Now I am giving the orders. Get back on board. Is that clear? Don't you hear me?
Captain: I am going aboard.

Coast Guard: Go! Call me immediately when you are on board. My rescue people are in front of the bow.

Captain: Where is your rescue craft?

Coast Guard: My rescue craft is at the bow. Go! There are already bodies, Schettino. Go!

Captain: How many bodies are there?

Coast Guard: I don't know! ... Christ, you should be the one telling me that!

Captain: Do you realize that it is dark and we can't see anything?

Coast Guard: So, what do you want to do, to go home, Schettino?! It's dark and you want to go home? Go to the bow of the ship where the ladder is and tell me what needs to be done, how many people there are, and what they need! Now!

Captain: My second in command is here with me.

Coast Guard: Then both of you go! Both of you! What is the name of your second in command?

Captain: His name is Dmitri (static)"

Coast Guard: What is the rest of his name? (static) You and your second in command get on board now! Is that clear?

Captain: Look, chief, I want to go aboard but the other lifeboat here has stopped and is drifting. I have called ...

Coast Guard (interrupting): You have been telling me this for an hour! Now, go aboard! Get on board, and tell me immediately how many people there are!

Captain: OK, chief.

Coast Guard: Go! Immediately!

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Peter Graff)

Originally Posted by Spin

Costa is owned and controlled by Carnival, along with other brands like Cunard, according to a report I read on Bloomberg earlier.......

Yup I pmed peterpan and told him I stood corrected.

Originally Posted by Thaihome

Coast Guard: Go! Immediately!

And he never did go back to the ship.

Originally Posted by aging one

Yup I pmed peterpan and told him I stood corrected.

Not a big deal, what is a big deal is the behaviour of the captain, astonishing really, his apparent cowardice makes me think......

"How many gears does an Italian wartank have?

Answer, 5, 4 are reverse gears and 1 is forward in case they were attacked in the rear."

Costa Concordia: captain ‘says he tripped and fell into life boat’ - Telegraph

The captain of the crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship, Francesco Schettino, has reportedly said the reason he was in a life boat while thousands of panic-stricken passengers and crew were trying to evacuate was because he “tripped” and fell into the rescue craft.

Originally Posted by crippen

Costa Concordia: captain ‘says he tripped and fell into life boat’ - Telegraph

The captain of the crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship, Francesco Schettino, has reportedly said the reason he was in a life boat while thousands of panic-stricken passengers and crew were trying to evacuate was because he “tripped” and fell into the rescue craft.

Is it just me or does just posting a link seem rude?
Anyway.

• News
• World news
• Francesco Schettino

Costa Concordia captain tells judge how he left stricken cruise ship

Francesco Schettino describes mayhem onboard after vessel ran aground off Italian coast but prosecutor disputes account

• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 January 2012 19.33 GMT

Police divers close to the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Giglio island, Italy. Photograph: Massimo Percossi/EPA

The cruise liner captain accused of abandoning ship after he struck rocks off the Tuscan coast last Friday has reportedly claimed he could not lead the evacuation because he slipped and tripped into a lifeboat while helping passengers leave the stricken vessel.
Captain Francesco Schettino said it was an accident that he left the Costa Concordia, according to Italian press reports.
"The passengers were pouring on to the decks, taking the lifeboats by assault," he was quoted as telling a judge during a hearing to determine whether he should be held in custody on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.
"I was trying to get people to get into the boats in an orderly fashion. Suddenly, since the ship was at a 60-70 degree angle, I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That's how I found myself in the lifeboat," Schettino said.
The death toll among the 4,200 passengers and crew stands at 11, with 21 people still unaccounted for. Eight bodies have been retrieved from the grounded vessel, while three drowned trying to reach the shore. One of the bodies found on the vessel was identified on Wednesday as Sandor Feher, 38, a Hungarian violinist who worked on board the ship and was last seen helping to put crying children into life jackets before returning to his cabin to pack his violin.
Italian officials said a German woman who was mistakenly listed among the missing had been located alive in Germany.
Schettino, who was handed command of the newly launched, 114,500-tonne Costa Concordia in 2006, admitted responsibility for crashing into rocks close to the island of Giglio which tore a hole in the Costa Concordia.
"I don't know why it happened. I was a victim of my instincts," he said. He confirmed he sailed close to the island to salute a retired captain, Mario Palombo. He said he was not afraid of a drugs test. "I don't do drugs and I had not drunk," he said. By grounding the vessel close to the shore after it struck rock, he claims he saved the lives of many passengers.
A report released on Wednesday by the judge, Valeria Montesarchio, revealed Schettino was sailing at more than 15 knots when he struck rock and left the vessel while 300 people were still on board. After his "gravely imprudent" behaviour, Schettino remained "completely inert" on rocks as others scrambled to help the evacuation, the report stated.
The judge interviewed Roberto Bosio, a cruise ship captain who was aboard by chance and has been hailed a hero in Italy after he reportedly stayed on board to take charge of the evacuation.
The judge's decision to free Schettino from custody and place him under house arrest is to be subject to an appeal by prosecutor Francesco Verusio, who said Schettino "doesn't appear unhappy about what he caused" and could flee.
Verusio doubted Schettino's story about falling into the lifeboat. "Even if he fell in the lifeboat, he could have got back on the boat," he said.
Support for Schettino came from his parish priest, Father Gennaro Starita, who said the captain was being "killed" by a "media circus".
On Giglio, divers searching for passengers on the half-submerged ship were urgently pulled off the vessel on Wednesday after sensors revealed the ship had shifted about 1.5 metres, following a smaller shift on Monday which prompted fears the vessel may move from the rocks on which is now lodged and tumble into 70 metre depths.
Navy divers had been planning to blow three holes in the hull with explosive charges after five holes blown on Tuesday allowed access to a lower deck where they found five bodies.
As the hope of finding passengers alive fades, Italy's environment minister Corrado Clini said two weeks would be needed to empty the ship's 15 fuel tanks of 2,280 tonnes of fuel to avoid the possibility of a leak.
The tiny port on Giglio has this week become a thriving hub for 600 rescue workers and journalists, prompting about 700 winter residents to reopen shops and hotels closed until the summer.
Relatives of missing passengers visited the port on Wednesday to meet officials and appeal for information.
Posters appeared on the walls around the port asking for news of Giuseppe Girolamo, 30, an Italian musician who was hired to play in a rock band on the Costa Concordia in December.
Girolamo was reportedly seen boarding a lifeboat on Friday before leaping back on board the cruise ship to help other passengers

Costa Concordia captain tells judge how he left stricken cruise ship | World news | The Guardian

Staggering really.

After his "gravely imprudent" behaviour, Schettino remained "completely inert" on rocks as others scrambled to help the evacuation,

Costa Concordia shipwreck's hero and villain lay bare two souls of Italy

Coastguard official's harangue of ship's captain strikes a chord with Italians called to order by their technocratic government
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 January 2012 17.42 GMT

The Costa Concordia, shipwrecked at an almost painfully metaphoric moment for Italy. Photograph: Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images

As the 114,500 tonne Costa Concordia loomed out of the night off the coast of Giglio last Friday, two Italian seafarers were unwittingly on their way to becoming nationally – and internationally – notorious for radically different reasons.
After the floating palace of delights hit a rock, the available evidence suggests that its captain, Francesco Schettino, refused to acknowledge the seriousness of what had happened, delayed giving the order to abandon ship and then took to a lifeboat himself, long before the chaotic evacuation was complete. At 1.46am, he was called on his mobile telephone by the local coastguard commander, Gregorio de Falco, who recorded their conversation.
Made available on newspaper websites, the ensuing four minutes, in which De Falco urges, instructs and finally orders his compatriot to do his duty, could scarcely be more emblematic. Writing in Corriere della Sera, the critic Aldo Grasso called the transcript "the document that most exemplifies the two souls of Italy".
On the one hand, a "captain who flees from his responsibilities as a man and an officer"; on the other, a compatriot "who understands immediately the dimensions of the tragedy and tries to call the coward to [fulfil] his obligations".
Looked at rationally, the wrecking of the Costa Concordia ought not perhaps to be made to bear the weight of meaning heaped on it. Even if none of those missing are found, the number of dead will be no greater than in an average week on Britain's roads.
But shipwrecks cannot be assessed rationally. They call to something deep inside us. The shipwreck, wrote Grasso, was "one of the archetypes in all literatures because it illustrates the risks of human existence in the course of the journey through life".
And at this moment in the life of Italy a shipwreck is almost painfully metaphoric. Like Captain Schettino, the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi delayed taking vital decisions as his country floated progressively closer to a reef marked "eurozone debt crisis".
For Massimo Gramellini of La Stampa, "The ship lying on its side [is a] symbol of the country adrift." On the very day the Costa Concordia hit the rocks, the world's biggest ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, again downgraded Italy's creditworthiness, this time to a level below that accorded to Slovakia and Slovenia.
"We had just come out of the tunnel of Bunga Bunga," noted Caterina Soffici in a blog for the website of the left-leaning Il Fatto Quotidiano. "We were just drawing that little, relieved breath that would enable us to toil again up the hill to international credibility. But [now] … We've gone straight into the Titanic nightmare [and] Italy is once again the laughing stocking of foreign newspapers."
Cristiano Gatti, writing in the newspaper of the Berlusconi family, Il Giornale, agreed the world would take delight in an image of "the same old rascally Italians: those unreliable cowards who turn and run in war and flee like rabbits from the ship, even if they are in command". But, he added, the world should also reflect that, at the other end of the line in that shocking, middle-of-the-night conversation, was "an individual of that same, odd and vilified race … a man and officer able single-handedly to save [his country's] pride and dignity".
A mixed sense of relief and admiration for De Falco took shape on the internet, where tens of thousands of Italians turned his peremptory order ("Vada a bordo, cazzo!", or "Get on board, for fuck's sake!") into a trending hashtag. Within hours, T-shirts with the phrase were being offered for sale.
Perhaps the reason why his harangue struck such a chord was that Italians are being called to order by their new government in similarly uncompromising, if politer, terms. The message from Mario Monti and his "technocratic" administration is that Italians can no longer evade their responsibilities by running a vast national overdraft and that the time has come for them all to start paying their taxes. Like De Falco, they are demanding that personal interest be sacrificed for the common good, and so far they have been getting an encouragingly positive response in the form of poll ratings above 60%.
The coastguard commander's elevation to the status of an idol, if not hero, has nevertheless appalled De Falco himself, and worried others.
Some commentators have observed that the very leaking of the recording is proof of Italians' enduring indifference to the law. It was part of the evidence against Schettino and should not have been made available for release unless and until he was indicted.
Moreover, as the author and columnist Beppe Severgnini observed, "Millions of [our] compatriots do their duty, often for little money … Perhaps, if the evidence of this seriousness of purpose becomes a source of wonder, [it means] we have forgotten that."
Visible proof of the courage, dedication and even heroism of Italians has been projected by television into the homes of the nation, and the world, every day since the disaster. It can be seen in the images of fire brigade and Carabinieri divers risking their lives to search a vessel that could shift at any moment, trapping them inside.
It can be seen in the footage of the doctor and the helicopter winchman who were lowered on to the Costa Concordia, leaning at an angle of 80°, on Sunday to treat and then rescue the last passenger found alive.
Many Italians do their best to live up to the examples of men such as Columbus and Garibaldi. Roberto Bosio, an off-duty captain travelling on the liner, stayed behind to man the bridge after it was abandoned. Two other Italian officers remained aboard until the end to try to bring order to the chaos of the evacuation. And among the names on the list of the missing is that of Giuseppe Girolamo, the long-haired drummer in the on-board band, Dee Dee Smith. Witnesses said he had a place in one of the lifeboats, but gave it up to a child.


Costa Concordia shipwreck's hero and villain lay bare two souls of Italy | World news | guardian.co.uk

Somebody has predicted this boat will sink 6 month ago. Look at the message :

ce paquebot va couler
Bastien09bofficiel il y a 6 mois 1346

on this link, comment page 24.

Five guilty in 2010 shipwreck
20 Jul 2013

GROSSETO, ITALY - An Italian court has accepted plea bargains for five Costa Crociere employees in the shipwreck that killed 32 crew and passengers, convicting all of multiple manslaughter and negligence.

The court in Grosseto on Saturday handed down the highest sentence to the crisis coordinator for Costa Crociere, Roberto Ferranini, who was sentenced to two years and 10 months.

The ship's hotel director was sentenced to two years and six months while two bridge officers and a helmsman received sentences ranging from one year and eight months to one year and 11 months.

The plea bargains were handled separately from the trial of the Costa Concordia captain. He is charged with manslaughter for causing the January 2012 shipwreck off the Tuscan island of Giglio and abandoning the vessel with thousands aboard.

bangkokpost.com

Costa Concordia in Italy freed from rocks
16 September 2013

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 continuing through the night.

The vessel has been detached from rocks and moved on to a platform constructed on the sea bed, officials said.

Engineers have never tried to lift such a huge ship - over 951 feet long (290m) - so close to land.

By Monday evening, the vessel had rotated by 20-21 degrees, the officials said.

This means that there is another 44-45 degrees to go before it is upright. However, the officials hope that once it has risen by 24 degrees, the ship will begin righting itself thanks to gravity and to metal boxes attached to the side and filled with water.

Costa Concordia 'looks like it was crushed in earthquake'


















Giglio mayor Sergio Ortelli earlier said that the removal of the Costa Concordia would bring an end to "a huge problem that we have in our port and that we want to solve as soon as we can".

"Islanders can't wait to see the back of it," he said.

The small island's economy depends hugely on tourism and the presence of the wreck has discouraged visitors.

The salvage project has so far cost more than 600m euros ($800m; £500m) and is expected to cost much more before the operation is complete.

Lots of amateur video footage. Don't need a Hollywood movie nowadays.

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino guilty of manslaughter

Rome, Italy: An Italian court has convicted the former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner for his role in the 2012 shipwreck that killed 32 people and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.

Francesco Schettino was commanding the vessel when it came too close to shore and hit rocks off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio.

Schettino was charged with multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship in one of the highest-profile shipping disasters in recent years.

However it is far from certain whether he will actually go to jail before the end of Italy's long appeals process, which can take years.


Schettino had earlier broken down in tears in court as he made an emotional last-ditch appeal to judges to clear him of causing the 2012 cruise ship disaster.

After outlining the harassment and character assassination he said he has suffered over the last three years, the 54-year-old captain on Wednesday urged the three judges not to make him the sole scapegoat for the disaster.

"I have spent the last three years in a media meat grinder," the disgraced skipper, who had faced a maximum 26-year prison term, said. "All the responsibility has been loaded onto me with no respect for the truth or for the memory of the victims."

Breaking into loud sobs, he concluded his address by declaring "basta [enough]" before slumping back down into his seat.

Schettino blames his crew for the collision, says the delayed evacuation may have saved lives and insists he fell off the tilting boat, and was then ordered by its owners not to go back on board.

He was not present when Judge Giovanni Puliatti read out the verdict on Wednesday night in a Grosseto court.

The verdict and sentencing brought a close to a trial that has been running since July 2013.

Reuters, AFP

Sentence for Costa Concordia captain upheld over 2012 shipwreck that killed 32 people

FLORENCE, Italy (AFP) – Florence’s appeals court on Tuesday upheld the 16-year jail term for Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that sank off Italy in 2012 leaving 32 people dead.

Schettino was not in court when the verdict was read out by presiding judge Grazia D’Onofrio shortly after 8.30pm (2.30am on Thursday, Singapore time).

He will not be jailed immediately pending a possible further appeal.

Schettino was sentenced in February 2015 to 16 years and one month in prison after a judge ruled that his recklessness was to blame for the fate of the giant ship, which struck underwater rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

He was convicted of multiple manslaughter, causing a maritime accident and abandoning ship before all passengers and crew had been evacuated, earning him the nickname “Captain Coward” in the press.

The ship had been carrying more than 4,200 people, including 3,200 tourists. The bodies of two of the victims have never been found.

Schettino’s lawyers had insisted the accident and its deadly consequences were primarily due to organisational failings for which the ship’s owner, Costa Crociere, its Indonesian helmsman and the Italian coastguard should have shared the blame.

Costa Crociere avoided potential criminal charges by accepting partial responsibility and agreeing to pay a one million euro (S$1.5 million) fine.

Sentence for Costa Concordia captain upheld over 2012 shipwreck