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ROME – Declaring Venice's waterways a “national monument,” Italy is banning mammoth cruise liners from sailing into the lagoon city, which risked being declared an imperiled world heritage site by the United Nations within days. His firm, part of the US Carnival group, returned to the ocean again last September, limiting calls to Italian ports, only to suspend operations again in December. The crew of 1,300 had first observed a 14-day quarantine before reporting for duty. Another crucial aspect of preventing future incidents is the implementation of new safety protocols and comprehensive crew training programs. Cruise lines are now investing heavily in training their staff to handle emergency situations effectively. “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.
Costa Concordia Captain Now: What Happened to Francesco Schettino After Cruise Ship Disaster? - Yahoo Entertainment
Costa Concordia Captain Now: What Happened to Francesco Schettino After Cruise Ship Disaster?.
Posted: Wed, 20 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Collision and rescue
One of these was a 72-year-old Argentinean judge named María Inés Lona de Avalos. Repeatedly turned away from crowded lifeboats, she sat on the deck amid the chaos. “I could feel the ship creaking, and we were already leaning halfway over,” she later told a Buenos Aires newspaper. Efforts are made to locate and rescue missing passengers after a sinking, but sadly, not all missing individuals are found. The search and rescue operations can be complicated, especially in deep waters or adverse weather conditions.
Dozens are dead and hundreds feared missing from migrant ship sinking off Greece - NPR
Dozens are dead and hundreds feared missing from migrant ship sinking off Greece.
Posted: Thu, 15 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Changes to Cruise Industry Safety Policies
Police in Italy have seized around 150kg (330lbs) of cocaine hidden nine metres (30ft) underwater in a ship's hull. 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." Galli was startled to find himself talking to Captain Schettino and another officer, Dimitrios Christidis. Savastano returned to the ship, and had just begun winching the second crew member aloft when, to his surprise, a porthole suddenly opened and a ghostly face appeared.
Salvage
But the one group whose actions are crucial to any understanding of what went wrong—the ship’s officers—has been largely mute, silenced first by superiors at Costa Cruises and now by a web of official investigations. The officers have spoken mainly to the authorities, but this being the Italian justice system, their stories quickly leaked to the newspapers—and not simply, as happens in America, via the utterances of anonymous government officials. In Rome entire transcripts of these interrogations and depositions have been leaked, affording a fairly detailed, if still incomplete, portrait of what the captain and senior officers say actually happened.
The blackout after the ship's engine room flooded and its generators failed. 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! ”—a recorded sound bite that turned into a T-shirt slogan in Italy.
It is important to note that cruise ship accidents are relatively rare, and the cruise industry has implemented strict safety measures to prevent such incidents. However, when accidents do occur, the consequences can be tragic. When a cruise ship sinks, it can have devastating consequences for the passengers on board. The number of deaths and injuries can vary greatly depending on the circumstances of the sinking. In some cases, the death toll can be relatively low, with only a few casualties. Almost immediately questions were raised concerning the conduct of Schettino and other crew officers.
The wreck of the Costa Concordia is many things to many people. To Italians, who dominated the ship’s officer ranks and made up a third of its passengers, it is a national embarrassment; once the pinnacle of Mediterranean hedonism, the Concordia was now sprawled dead on the rocks in a cold winter sea. One of the crucial aspects of preventing cruise ship sinkings is enhancing the navigation systems on board.
In no time, Giglio residents hosted thousands of journalists, law enforcement officers and rescue experts who descended on the port. In the months to come, salvage teams set up camp in the picturesque harbor to work on safely removing the ship, an operation that took more than two years to complete. Because the Concordia was listing to starboard, it eventually became all but impossible to lower boats from the port side, the side facing open water; they would just bump against lower decks. As a result, the vast majority of those who evacuated the ship by lifeboat departed from the starboard side. By the time Schettino called to abandon ship, roughly 2,000 people had been standing on Deck 4 for an hour or more, waiting.
Situation on deck
Giving orders to Bin Jacob, Schettino eased the Concordia into the turn without event. Then, coming onto a new, northerly course just over a half-mile from the harbor, he saw the rock below, to his left. It was enormous, just at the surface, crowned with frothing white water; he was so close to Giglio he could see it by the town’s lights. Before leaving port, Captain Schettino set a course for Savona, on the Italian Riviera, 250 miles to the northwest. As the ship steamed into the Tyrrhenian, Schettino headed to dinner with Cemortan, telling an officer to alert him when the Concordia closed within five miles of the island of Giglio, 45 miles northwest. Later, a passenger would claim he saw Schettino and his friend polish off a decanter of red wine while eating, but the story was never confirmed.
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. 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. The only obvious way down was along the outer hull, now tilted at a steep angle.
At the bottom of the rope ladder, boats took turns picking up the exhausted passengers, helping them jump down the last five or six feet to safety. Giovanni Rossi and his crew alone managed to ferry at least 160 of them safely into the harbor. By one A.M., with the Concordia now lying almost flat on its side, between 700 and 1,000 people remained on board. Clumps of people were scattered throughout the ship, many clinging to railings.
The face belonged to one of five passengers who were stuck on a lower deck with no way out. “Then the pilot told me we only had two minutes left—we were running out of fuel—so I said to these people, ‘Don’t move! ’ ” With three passengers now aboard, Nemo 1 wheeled into the night sky and headed to the town of Grosseto to refuel.
A half-hour or so after his last call from the Coast Guard, a rescue boat plucked Schettino from his rock and ferried him to the harbor. He talked to the police for a bit, then found a priest, who later said the captain, in a daze, cried for a very long time. Both helicopters were, figuratively and literally, operating in the dark. There was no chance of communication with anyone on board; the only way to assess the situation, in fact, was to lower a man onto the Concordia. The pilot of Nemo 1, Salvatore Cilona, slowly circled the ship, searching for a safe spot to try it.
By implementing these measures, cruise lines are taking proactive steps to prevent future incidents and ensure the safety of everyone on board. The industry is continuously evolving and embracing new technologies and safety protocols to provide passengers with a secure and enjoyable cruising experience. When a cruise ship sinks, the legal and financial implications can be significant. Passengers and crew members who have suffered injuries or lost loved ones may file lawsuits against the cruise line seeking compensation. For more information on cruise ship safety and emergency procedures, you can visit the official website of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) at
Advanced technologies such as GPS tracking, radar systems, and sonar are being utilized to provide accurate and real-time information about the ship’s location and potential hazards in the vicinity. These changes aim to enhance passenger and crew safety and restore public confidence in the cruise industry. When a cruise ship sinks, a thorough investigation is conducted to determine the cause of the incident. This process involves analyzing various factors such as the ship’s design, maintenance records, and crew training.
"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." When the lifeboat was finally stabilized, the crewmen slowly helped the others off the rope. “The ship was listing at 80 degrees, so there was incredible risk of slipping off,” recalls Nemo 1’s rescue diver, Marco Savastano. Dean felt sure the ship was turning completely over, as seen in The Poseidon Adventure.
