BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 08:20 PM

a retired captain spoke on the radio this morning & said in modern ships people are so busy watching screens that they forget to use Eye Mark 1 - no visual observations are made as crew do not look up from their screens & so don't notice anything that is not being scanned for.

Eyes were invented long before computers & are so good they haven't been improved.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 07:42 PM

Here's an update from Al Jazeera:

Maritime authorities, passengers and mounting evidence pointed toward the captain of a cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast, amid accusations that he abandoned ship before everyone was safely evacuated and was showing off when he steered the vessel far too close to shore.

The Costa Crociera company, which owns the Costa Concordia cruise ship, released a statement refuting the earlier claims by Captain Francisco Schettino, saying that the captain had "made an error of judgment which has had serious consequences."

"The route followed by the ship was too close to the coast and it seems decisions in emergency management have not followed procedures in line with those followed by Costa Crociere which in some cases go beyond international standards," said the statement, released late on Sunday.

Authorities were holding Schettino for suspected manslaughter and a prosecutor confirmed on Sunday they were also investigating allegations the captain abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had escaped.

According to the Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons a ship in danger can face up to 12 years in prison.

A French couple who boarded the Concordia in Marseille, Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays, said they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, well before all the passengers were off the ship.

"The commander left before and was on the dock before everyone was off," said Gondelle, 28, a French military officer.

Schettino is sticking to his claim that the rocks which sank the vessel were not marked on the nautical charts.

"I firmly believe that the rocks were not detected as the ship was not heading forward, but sideways," he said in an interview. "I don't know if it was detected or not, but on the nautical chart it was marked just as water, at some 100, to 150 meters from the rocks, and we were about 300 meters from the shore."

Evidently the damaged ship was floating for about an hour before launching lifeboats was attempted. By that time her list was too extreme to launch them all.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 05:53 PM

Make that the "port side," where the rock is lodged.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Ed T
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 05:50 PM

salvage projects

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 05:42 PM

One of the "alleged rocks" appears still lodged in the ship's starboard side if you look at the photos.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 05:29 PM

Captain says...'oh there were no rocks marked around there.."

Italian Coast Guard says: 'Oh there WERE rocks marked as dangerous in that area!'

Area residents say:'.. various of ship's crew had friends & relatives along that coast, and the ship often sailed 'close' so they could wave. This time they just got too close.'

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 04:47 PM

She went down last January
On a clear and calm nice day
The skipper he was sober
And the mate was the same way
To close to a sunken something
She was dealt a mortal blow
And Costa Concordia settled low....

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 04:13 PM

No need to find the captain guilty yet and, it's certainly true, that getting the mortally injured ship that close to shore probably minimized loss of life. However, this is a headline story and I'm certainly interested in what conclusions come out of the investigation.

Meanwhile, feel free to speculate, without indulging in a "witch hunt."

It's unclear at this point what the ship hit, whether it was a rock ledge or perhaps a semi-submerged derelict. One would think that the rocks and ledges in the area would be well mapped and, if so, a major factor would be navigational error. The tides in the Mediterranean should not be a factor; they only vary a foot or two. How heavily the ship was loaded, however, could be a factor.

The captain had sailed this route many times before. So there should have been no surprises.

The lack of a lifeboat drill prior to the accident is obviously a lapse in safety procedures.

How well the officers and crew conducted themselves after the accident cannot be determined at this point.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 02:06 PM

With a 50 meter gash in her, well, I supposed recovery and reuse can be done. Gonna be a big job, though.

I will be interested in the report of the Maritime Commission. I assume that these ships carry the equivalent of airline "black boxes."

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: gnu
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 02:04 PM

Certainly so. It's all conjecture at this point. "Jailing" the captain is standard procedure. I doubt he's in jail but would ASSUME simply being part of an accident investigation.

As for running agroud, SO many factors come into play...maybe a thruster not responding because of a mechanical or electrical or electronic or... all conjecture.

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: DMcG
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 02:03 PM

Absolutely right, gnomad and Megan. Our knowledge of what happened is very limited, and any comments we might make are little more than guesswork. This is best left to those in a position to find out, for the time being.

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Ed T
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 02:02 PM

Outside the obvious concerns for those lost, what caused the mishap, and environmental issues, I am very curious as to how the ship will be recovered/re-floated, or salvaged? I suspect someone is devising a plan for that as we post.

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: gnomad
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 01:56 PM

Known death toll has risen to five, but given some 4000 plus persons on board that is remarkably few. They have even got a handful of people out of her who had been trapped.

As for why it happened, I feel that is best left to the marine investigation authorities. We are, after all, not there, not experts, and only in possession of information filtered through journalists whose main term of reference is what will sell a story.

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 01:33 PM

What IS strange is how it came to collide with a large rock in the narrow channel. It's made the passage before, and so have dozens of other cruise ships. It must have been badly off course. Also, I heard (unsubstantiated) that their passenger and crew lists were incomplete. If so, that's a grave fault. In the event of an accident or sinking, how can one be sure all lives are accounted for?

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 01:23 PM

But only while investigations are made. Innocent until proved guilty and all that...

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: polaitaly
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 01:21 PM

The captain is now in jail (rightfully)
paola

Subject: RE: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Megan L
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 11:53 AM

Lets not start yet another mudcat witch hunt

Subject: BS: Costa Concordia Sinking-2012
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jan 12 - 10:59 AM

Last Friday the Costa Concordia cruise liner struck a reef and subsequently sunk near to shore off the coast of Italy. Here's a link to the best story I've been able to find: click here for report!

"The 114,500-tonne Costa Concordia was on a trip around the Mediterranean when it "hit an obstacle" near the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany."

The Costa Concordia has the dubious distinction of being the largest cruise liner to ever have sunk.

Over 4000 people were aboard, three are confirmed dead and 17 are still missing according to this report.

The captain safely evacuated the ship after grounding it adjacent to the shore, and is under investigation for manslaughter. He had abandoned the ship before the vast majority of passengers were safely ashore.

Charley Noble