Costa Concordia: Ten years on pianist recalls terrifying escape from the capsized cruise liner

Table Of Content

• The Costa Concordia Disaster: How Human Error Made It Worse
• Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino guilty of manslaughter
• years later, Costa Concordia disaster vivid for survivors
• Securing wreck site and protecting environment

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. Costa Concordia disaster, the capsizing of an Italian cruise ship on January 13, 2012, after it struck rocks off the coast of Giglio Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The Costa Concordia Disaster: How Human Error Made It Worse

Dramatic openingSchettino himself has become a lightning rod for international disdain for having left the ship before everyone was evacuated. This was the very beginning of my personal nightmare, because I had to perform a gruelling evacuation of the ship. While the ship was tipping over I was confronted with a portrait of an ongoing tragedy, a grotesque paradox. I was expecting a crew member from the bridge (the room where the ship is commanded) to come downstairs and lead myself and my crew members to our designated life raft. I reached my master station and was in charge of a roll call for 25 crew members to embark on a life raft. It was really unexpected because the conditions at sea meant it made no sense for this to happen.

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino guilty of manslaughter

Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Prosecutors blamed the delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. 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.

years later, Costa Concordia disaster vivid for survivors

As the Costa Concordia made its final journey out of the port of Giglio, some survivors and families of victims looked on as a final farewell. In the aftermath of the disaster, legal claims mounted against the owner of the ship, Costa Cruises. They included lawsuits by the region of Tuscany and a €189m suit by the island of Giglio, which claimed that the accident and the presence of the downed vessel hurt tourism and the local economy. 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. The same erroneous information was given to the harbour master at Civitavecchia. Instead, he said he did it as a favour to the ship’s head waiter, who was a native of Giglio, and to give his passengers a beautiful view of the island.

Securing wreck site and protecting environment

Survivor recounts Costa Concordia cruise capsizing 10 years later - USA TODAY

Survivor recounts Costa Concordia cruise capsizing 10 years later.

Posted: Wed, 12 Jan 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Prosecutors blamed a delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. It will also honour the 4,200 survivors and the residents of Giglio who took in passengers and crew, offering clothes and shelter until passengers could return to the mainland. Schettino was convicted of multiple manslaughter as well as abandoning ship after leaving before all the passengers had reached safety. 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. Through the confusion, the captain somehow made it into a lifeboat before everyone else had made it off. A coast guard member angrily told him on the phone to “Get back on board, damn it!

The Wrecked Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Is Finally Being Towed Away

"It's very similar to the movie 'Titanic.' People were jumping onto the top of the lifeboats and pushing down women and children to try to get to them." 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." Ten years ago the Costa Concordia ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio, killing 32 people and entwining the lives of others forever. After a long forced pause due to the pandemic, cruise lines resumed their activities in 2021.

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. "I think it’s the panic, the feeling of panic, is what’s carried through over 10 years," Ian Donoff, who was on the cruise with his wife Janice for their honeymoon, told Cobiella.

The lifeboats wouldn't drop down because the ship was tilted on its side, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded on the side of the ship for hours in the cold. People were left to clamber down a rope ladder over a distance equivalent to 11 stories. Dozens of passengers were taken off a cruise ship in Genoa, Italy, after testing positive for COVID, the operator said. The flagship Costa Smeralda set off from the northwestern port of Savona at 6pm after being landbound since December 20, when the Italian government banned cruises during the holiday season due to the coronavirus crisis. "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."

Costa Cruises and its parent companies

Despite receiving its own share of criticism, Costa Cruises and its parent company, Carnival Corporation, did not face criminal charges. During this time, work also began to remove the vessel in what was the largest maritime salvage operation in history. 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.

The flagship Costa Smeralda set off from the port of Savona after being landbound since December when the Italian government banned cruises due to the coronavirus crisis. Rose Metcalf, a dancer who had been performing on the ship, was one of the last people to be winched to safety by a helicopter after clinging to the stricken vessel. "Usually there are 700 people on the island at this time of year, so receiving 4,000 people in the middle of the night wasn't easy," she said.

“I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after,” he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats. 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.

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. It featured four swimming pools, a casino, and reportedly the largest spa on a ship. In July 2006 the vessel undertook its maiden voyage, a seven-day cruise of the Mediterranean Sea, with stops in Italy, France, and Spain. But the report noted that some passengers testified that they didn’t hear the alarm to proceed to the lifeboats. Evacuation was made even more chaotic by the ship listing so far to starboard, making walking inside very difficult and lowering the lifeboats on one side, near to impossible.

Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia accident eyewitness accounts

Table Of Content

• Trials
• Regulatory and industry response
• A ‘cold-blooded killer’ called Smiley haunted L.A. for 14 years. How he finally faced justice
• Costa Cruises and its parent companies
• years later, Costa Concordia survivors share their stories from doomed cruise ship
• Search for missing people
• Packed Italian court as captain in Concordia disaster hears evidence

There are going to be substantial risks before the Costa Concordia is gone for good, however. As CNN writes, the ship's rotting hull could break off as it is jostled about, which would cause lengthy delays. "The worst case scenario is that the ship falls apart during the first six hours as it's raised off the platform -- or that it breaks up somewhere off the coast of Corsica, which is where the Mediterranean's currents are the strongest," CNN continues. Some environmental groups, like Greenpeace, are also concerned that the Costa Concordia will leave a trail of leaky toxic waste in its wake, CNN adds. “It was a night that, in addition to being a tragedy, had a beautiful side because the response of the people was a spontaneous gesture that was appreciated around the world,” Ortelli said. A decade after that harrowing night, the survivors are grateful to have made it out alive.

Trials

Cruise ship crashes into tourist boat in Venice, injuring five people - The Guardian

Cruise ship crashes into tourist boat in Venice, injuring five people.

Posted: Sun, 02 Jun 2019 07:00:00 GMT [source]

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. The hospitality of the tight-knit community of islanders kicked in, at first to give basic assistance to the 4,229 passengers and crew members who had to be evacuated from a listing vessel as high as a skyscraper. In no time, Giglio residents hosted thousands of journalists, law enforcement officers and rescue experts who descended on the port.

Regulatory and industry response

It happened on Friday evening and marked the start of hours of panic among the 4,000 people on board the cruise ship. In the next few days, Schettino, the eight other people accused, and the many survivors and families of victims, will learn if he will face charges over the deaths of 32 people after his ship run aground off Giglio island on Jan. 13. 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.

A ‘cold-blooded killer’ called Smiley haunted L.A. for 14 years. How he finally faced justice

The calamity caused changes in the cruise industry like carrying more lifejackets and holding emergency drills before leaving port. GIGLIO PORTO, Italy — The curvy granite rocks of the Tuscan island of Giglio lay bare in the winter sun, no longer hidden by the ominous, stricken cruise liner that ran aground in the turquoise waters of this marine sanctuary ten years ago. Following the conclusion of the righting operation, the ship was kept on the platform while further inspections were made and the starboard sponsons attached. The crew of 1,300 had first observed a 14-day quarantine before reporting for duty. The ship will set off with around 1,500 passengers on board - a quarter of its full capacity.

But no one came from the bridge, and of course the ship, in the meantime, was still performing this very macabre choreography of slowly capsizing. 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 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. 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.

Making things worse, the crew had dropped the anchor incorrectly, causing the ship to flop over even more dramatically. Evidence introduced in Schettino’s trial suggests that the safety of his passengers and crew wasn’t his number one priority as he assessed the damage to the Concordia. I left the bar and found myself stumbling along sloping corridors with passengers and crew members. 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.

Cruise Ship Crashes In Venice, Italy - NPR

Cruise Ship Crashes In Venice, Italy.

Posted: Sun, 02 Jun 2019 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Search for missing people

"A year and a half without going anywhere is a long time. It was about time we set off again for the sea, the atmosphere, the views. We've been missing all that," said Jean-Pierre Faux, a 74-year-old pensioner from Belgium holidaying with his wife Martine. The cruise industry has been smashed by the pandemic, suffering a shortfall of 64 billion euros and shedding 518,000 jobs between just mid-March and September last year, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Rescue teams searched for survivors and helicopters evacuated the last 50 people on the deck. 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.

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.

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. “You find a consistent pattern of a lack of discipline on crew training, on the design of the vessel, on the communication problems. This captain made a horrible mistake, but we are not going to save lives if we don’t change the standards in the whole industry, not only of this particular captain,” Eaves said. Video taken by passengers at the time showed scenes of chaos and confusion as the Costa Concordia started to list heavily. "It was just said in court that musicians on board had more safety training than other crew members," Eaves told NBC.

"I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after," he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats. Italy will mark the 10th anniversary of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster on Thursday with a daylong commemoration. 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.

The MS Costa Concordia, the Italian cruise ship that killed 32 people when it sank off the coast off Isola del Giglio in 2012, has just been sitting off the Tuscan coast ever since. This morning, though, the ship was successfully refloated, the Guardian reports. Environmentalists are relieved since the ship has been marring a marine sanctuary for more than two years, while local residents say they are looking forward to no longer having to see a giant wreck each time they look out to sea. The Concordia was supposed to take passengers on a seven-day Italian cruise from Civitavecchia to Savona.