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Messages - Host Mike

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781
"The chief executive of the company that owns the Costa Concordia cruise ship says the captain who grounded it off the coast of Tuscany did not relay correct information to the company or the crew after the vessel hit rocks.

CEO Pierluigi Foschi told Italian state TV Friday his company spoke to the captain at 10:05 p.m., some 20 minutes after the ship was grounded but could not offer proper assistance because the captain's description "did not correspond to the truth."


Capt. Francesco Schettino only said he had "problems" aboard but did not mention hitting rocks.

Foschi said crew members were not informed of the gravity of the situation either."


http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/ceo-costa-captain-misled-company-crew-15406446#.TxniPIHCaSo

"Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia vessel that ran aground a week ago, told magistrates that he spoke to Costa Crociere SpA 10 times to tell the Carnival Corp. (CCL) unit what had happened, Corriere della Sera reported.

Schettino said he spoke to the person responsible for the crisis unit and asked for helicopters and tugboats because he thought the damage could be repaired, according to the Italian newspaper. He said he started to prepare for an evacuation and didn’t want to cause panic, according to Corriere. Schettino also told magistrates he thought the vessel would be pushed closer to the shore where it would have been easier to disembark, the daily newspaper reported.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-21/concordia-captain-told-costa-ship-was-in-trouble-corriere-says.html


782
"Sky News has obtained a report and animated reconstruction of the Costa Concordia's final route based on shipping navigational data.

The animation shows the cruise liner hitting an "exposed rock" before continuing on.

The report - from professional sources - details the vessel's route, which is superimposed over shipping charts of the area.

One of the images depicts the liner, a "safety contour" outline around the island of Giglio and the heading "struck exposed rock with a speed of 15 knots".

Animation 'shows' Costa Concordia hit 'exposed rock' based on AIS data, obtained by Sky News

The animation based on AIS navigation data shows the ship hitting an "exposed rock"

The report is based on information from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), an automatic tracking system used by vessel traffic services (VTS) to locate and identify ships.

It works by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships and AIS base stations.

Marine radar is the primary method of collision avoidance for water transport, supported by AIS information."

According to a leaked transcript being quoted in the Italian media, Francesco Schettino - who has been put under house arrest - admitted making the mistake that led to the Costa Concordia hitting a rock.

"I was navigating by sight because I knew the depths well and I had done this manoeuvre three or four times," he reportedly said.

But this time I ordered the turn too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow. I don't know why it happened."

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16152603


783
Mr Foschi defended the company’s safety record on Monday and said “all our crew members behaved like heroes. All of them.’’

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f2e9e1e0-4385-11e1-adda-00144feab49a.html#axzz1k2GPxikM


784
"Italian prosecutors leading the investigation of the accident may seek to interview Domnica Cemortan, a 25-year-old Moldovan who has appeared in photographs during the cruise published by Italian newspapers, Corriere Della Sera reported.

Cemortan told Corriere in an interview published today that she bought a ticket so she could travel on the ship and spend time with friends on the crew. She said the captain stopped briefly, “at least a half an hour” before the accident, at the table where she was dining with former colleagues. “I’m not Captain Schettino’s lover,” she told Corriere, after hearing from friends in Italy who told her newspapers were reporting that she was involved romantically with him.

Costa Crociere said in a statement yesterday that Cemortan was a registered passenger on the ship. She told Romanian newspaper Adevarul that she had worked as a crew member on the ship and went to the bridge to help translate emergency messages into Russian for passengers as the Concordia was running aground. When she escaped the ship at 11:50 p.m., an hour after the evacuation was ordered, the captain was still on the bridge, she said."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-20/carnival-suspends-some-cruise-marketing-sets-safety-review.html


785
"There are several remaining mysteries.

** A major criticism of rescued passengers was that they were not told what to do and the crew was noticeably absent during the crisis.  While a few crew members helped evacuate people, most passengers report that they didn’t see crew or the crew didn’t know what to do.  Seven bodies were found at muster stations (where passengers meet to board lifeboats) in life jackets.  This is the procedure passengers are told to follow during lifeboat drills, although crew weren’t present to tell them how to proceed.

** Costa Cruises CEO said Concordia made a close pass of Giglio Island last August although not closer than 500 meters.  However several days ago the British shipping journal Lloyd’s List Intelligence said that its satellite tracking information indicated that Costa Concordia sailed within 230 meters in August, even closer than it did last Friday.

** Costa Concordia is on a fixed itinerary, sailing each week to ports in France, Spain and Italy and passengers embark and disembark in each port.  The ship’s lifeboat drill was scheduled the following morning and roughly 600 passengers who boarded that day in Rome didn’t know how to proceed in an emergency.  At present maritime law stipulates cruise ships must schedule lifeboat drills within 24 hours of leaving home port.  Should laws be changed so than drill must take place before the ship leaves the port of embarkation?

** When Costa Concordia listed and sank into the water, most lifeboats couldn’t be launched.  Should cruise lines be required to build ship with lifeboats sitting on deck instead of hanging over the side on davits?

** Why did the crew tell passengers to return to their cabins or walk in the hall, that it was an electrical problem — after water began pouring into the vessel?

** There was a 45 minute wait between the accident, when passengers were told it was an electrical problem, and the order to abandon ship was given.    During that time the situation deteriorated rapidly.  Why weren’t passengers immediately told to return to their cabins, get life vests and proceed to muster stations?"

http://travel.usatoday.com/alliance/cruises/shipcriticblog/post/2012/01/Costa-Concordia--Unanswered-Questions-Remain/608734/1

786
"Father Malena, the 73-year-old ship’s chaplain, who has worked for Costa for around 20 years, also praised the bravery of crew members amid panic during the evacuation.

“There were heroes of all nationalities… They were shaking with fear. They were threatened. They were telling people to stop boarding lifeboats which were full but people were getting in anyway,” he said.

The Catholic priest said he was also angry at some of the passengers, “who are going to sue because they have lost 30, 40 or 50,000 euros in jewels.”

“Me, I defend the weak. Not the rich and the billionaires,” he added.




http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/20/costa-concordia-captain-cried-like-a-baby-after-the-crash-rescue-operations-suspended-amid-choppy-seas/


789
"The owners of the sinking Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia were not aware of unsafe practices involving ships coming close to shore to give tourists a better view, Costa Cruises chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi told a newspaper on Friday.

Costa has suspended Schettino and declared itself an injured party in the case, in which the captain is accused by prosecutors of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all the passengers were evacuated."

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0120/Costa-Concordia-owners-deny-knowing-about-captain-s-near-shore-salutes


790
"A British woman has told how she escaped the Costa Concordia after it ran aground, and lost her husband's ashes in the struggle to a lifeboat.

Sandra Rodgers, formerly of Flintshire, was separated from her daughter and twin granddaughters in the "completely chaotic" rush to leave the cruise ship.

She had planned to scatter the ashes of her husband Barry at Monaco."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-16648829

"As passengers who escaped from the listing vessel prepared legal action against Costa Crociere, one British passenger said she was suing after losing the ashes of her late husband during the evacuation.

Sandra Rodgers, 62, said she had been planning to scatter the ashes of her husband, Barry, when the cruise reached Monaco because he had dreamed of seeing the Monaco Grand Prix."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/20/call-costa-concordia-chained-down?newsfeed=true

792
"Italian prosecutors allege the captain, who is married, may have been distracted from his duties by trying to impress the dancer.

An Italian passenger claimed he witnessed the captain enjoying a dinner of prawn cocktail, shrimp pasta and grilled fish, accompanied with a decanter of red wine, in the ship's finest restaurant, the Concordia Club, on the night of the disaster.

Passenger Angelo Fabbri said: "Schettino, in a dark suit, was sitting in front of the woman. She seemed young. At first, we thought it was his daughter.

"A pretty woman, 35 or 40 years old, slim, with shoulder-length blonde hair, with a black dress with open arms.

"They were laughing. There was trust ... great happiness. There is no doubt they were drinking at least a whole decanter. The last drop was poured into the captain's glass.

Capt Schettino this week told a magistrate he was a non-drinker."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/speculation-swirls-around-mystery-woman-reportedly-seen-with-captain-of-doomed-ship/story-e6frf7lf-1226249788351



[Capt. Schettino] is one of the best captains in the company. He is very skillful and experienced when it comes to manoeuvring the ship in enclosed spaces, like harbours,” Ms. Cemortan told the Telegraph."

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/20/costa-concordia-captain-cried-like-a-baby-after-the-crash-rescue-operations-suspended-amid-choppy-seas/

793
"The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that investigators had established Captain Francesco Schettino spoke on three occasions to the ship's operator, Costa Cruises, via its emergency unit before the evacuation began.

Investigators wanted to know whether the 68 minutes that elapsed during the course of these calls was because Mr Schettino had underplayed or underestimated the gravity of the damage sustained by the liner, or because Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival, had been reluctant to sanction a decision to evacuate that might cost it millions of euros in compensation, the paper said."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/costa-talks-compo-for-cruise-ship-survivors-20120120-1qa8e.html

794
"An abrupt turn, though, could cause water in the compartments, which often transect the hull, to shift to one side, potentially causing a vessel of that size to roll, the naval engineer said, emphasizing it was too early to determine what caused the Concordia to list. The engineer said the 70-meter gash in the hull could have compromised three compartments, enough to have potentially sunk the ship.

Mr. Schettino has also said he lowered the ship's anchors as part of his efforts to get the ship closer to shore. Prosecutors have ordered police divers to inspect the anchors to determine their position and possibly corroborate this narrative, people familiar with the matter said.

As water rushed in, Mr. Schettino had at least three phone calls with Costa Crociere officials in the port city of Genoa, including Roberto Ferrarini, the company's head of marine operations, said people familiar with the investigation. It wasn't clear what was discussed or who placed the calls."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204616504577172531834270956.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

795
"The search for people still missing from the Jan. 13 wreck of a luxury cruise ship was temporarily suspended Friday because of a shift in the position of the 114,500-ton vessel resting on the rocky coast of the island of Giglio."

"Officially, the search was for survivors continued, although there was little hope of finding any of the 21 missing people alive."

"Electronic recordings and accounts from passengers, crew and port authorities show that Schettino waited about an hour before calling for an evacuation of the ship."

"Investigators are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to see if Schettino was under the influence of drugs or other substances at the time of the accident."

"Environmental Minister Corrado Clini said he would propose laws Friday that would require liners to keep about two miles away from shore. That would  prohibit cruise ships from plying the waters of the Grand Canal of  Venice, as well."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/01/shipwrecked-costa-concordia-shifts-halting-rescue-work.html

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