Author Topic: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy  (Read 349199 times)

Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #375 on: January 08, 2013, 02:48:46 AM »
Mr Schettino, for whom prosecutors are likely to demand criminal indictments within weeks, made the comments to La Stampa in the run-up to the anniversary of the tragedy on 13 January.

“I’ve been painted as worse than Bin Laden, while my regret for what happened is enormous,” he said. He also complained that his professional achievements and the image of Italy had been “ridiculed” by the coverage of the disaster.


This coming Sunday on the island of Giglio off the Tuscan coast, where the vessel struck rocks before partially capsizing, a special mass will be held at the island’s port to mark the anniversary of the accident. A bronze commemorative plaque will then be placed in the harbour in memory of the 32 victims.

Mr Schettino was in charge of the 290-metre vessel, carrying over 4,000 passengers and crew, when in a deviation from its standard route, it passed close to the shore of Giglio to perform a crowd-pleasing sail-by manoeuvre. A collision with rocks tore a 50-metre hole in the vessel’s side. Senior lifeguard officials have said that the delayed call to evacuate the doomed vessel was to blame for most of the fatalities.

Prosecutors will ask a judge to indict Mr Schettino by the first week in February on charges including abandoning ship before his passengers and of manslaughter. Five other crew members and three senior Costa Cruises officials may also be sent to trial.

It has emerged that the vessel will not now be removed from its resting place outside Giglio port before the autumn. The legion of engineers working to return the vessel to an upright position and attach buoyancy devices had hoped to be able to tow it to the mainland to be dismantled before the start of this year’s summer season.

Meanwhile, the wreck’s appeal to sightseers was underlined after five German tourists had to be rescued after getting up close to the Concordia, only for their tiny boat to be inundated by large waves.

“It was a pretty stupid thing to do. They were lucky that it ended as it did – they could have quite easily sunk,” according to a coastguard spokesman.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/costa-concordia-captain-francesco-schettino-im-not-as-bad-as-osama-bin-laden-8441768.html

Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #376 on: January 08, 2013, 07:20:47 PM »
"(ANSAmed) - Grosseto, January 8 - Authorities are preparing to mark the first anniversary of the cruise ship disaster that killed 32 people on January 13, 2012.

It's expected that as many as 900 people will gather on the pier of Giglio Island off the Tuscan coast to commemorate the deadly events after the Costa Concordia hit a rock that caused the massive ship to capsize.

Mayor Sergio Ortelli says the focus of the service on January 13 will be the survivors and families of those who died in the disaster, as well as emergency workers who rushed to pluck victims from the water.

Pieces of the rock upon which the Costa Concordia crashed have also been saved."

"Italy's environment minister warned last month that delays in removing the beached cruise liner could lead to further environmental damage.

Another outstanding element of the story is the legal proceedings involving Francesco Schettino, the captain at the helm of the ship.

He is facing possible criminal indictment for multiple charges of manslaughter.

Schettino is also claiming he was wrongly dismissed by Italy's Costa Crociere cruise line over the deadly accident.

A wrongful dismissal hearing continues on Wednesday, as Schettino's lawyer argues the dismissal process used by the company was not legitimate."


http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/italy/2013/01/08/Tuscan-island-prepares-first-anniversary-shipwreck_8040531.html


Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #377 on: January 13, 2013, 08:06:48 PM »
"Francesco Schettino, who is accused by prosecutors of causing the shipwreck with reckless seamanship and then abandoning the ship before all the 4229 passengers and crew had evacuated, defended himself in the interview shown on Raiuno public television.

"If we had not turned, we would not have hit anything," Schettino said, repeating a previous accusation made against the ship's Indonesian helmsman Jacob Rusli Bin, who he said had misunderstood his steering orders given in English.

"If the helmsman had understood correctly, the ship would have sailed past and nothing would have happened," Schettino said in the interview."

"The infamous captain - who has been dubbed "Captain Coward" by the tabloids - also remembered the moment he realized his ship was about to crash.

"When I went to the large window on the deck, I saw the mountain in front of me. We were going directly into the mountain!" he said.

"The person in charge of the radar was supposed to say that we had land in front of us. I was told that we were fine," he said.


"I took the blame because I followed the indications I was given."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/captains-condolences-on-italy-shipwreck/story-fn3dxix6-1226553193398
« Last Edit: January 13, 2013, 08:09:13 PM by Host Mike »

Offline NSWP

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #378 on: January 14, 2013, 09:04:47 PM »
I heard that Schettino is writing a book on the incident.  Who would buy it? Because who would believe his story? ???
CHEERS..Les from Batemans Bay, NSW, Australia

Princess Elite Cruiser, (480 days,) also cruised with Celebrity, P&O Australia and P&O UK, HAL, Carnival, Cunard and Sitmar. Plus Sydney Harbour Ferries !!

Offline RichC

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #379 on: January 15, 2013, 07:43:44 AM »
They had an hour program on the Discovery channel or NATGEO channel the other night a which was supposed to be about the removal of the ship. It turned into another program mostly about the incident with the last 10 minutes dedicated to how they're going to turn the ship & float it to away.
Good thing I recorded it & could skip past the old stuff.  ;)

Offline NSWP

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #380 on: January 15, 2013, 08:44:20 PM »
They had an hour program on the Discovery channel or NATGEO channel the other night a which was supposed to be about the removal of the ship. It turned into another program mostly about the incident with the last 10 minutes dedicated to how they're going to turn the ship & float it to away.
Good thing I recorded it & could skip past the old stuff.  ;)

The ship is going to be cut up for scrap, after she is towed somewhere suitable, once they retrieve it ! :o
CHEERS..Les from Batemans Bay, NSW, Australia

Princess Elite Cruiser, (480 days,) also cruised with Celebrity, P&O Australia and P&O UK, HAL, Carnival, Cunard and Sitmar. Plus Sydney Harbour Ferries !!

Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #381 on: January 18, 2013, 03:19:03 PM »
"And unfortunately I was relying, in the last three minutes, on an officer, when all of a sudden he was handing me the control of the ship without giving me distance — nothing," Schettino said.

That, he said, was when he noticed foam on the water — a sign of shallow water or something jutting from the surface.

"I regret that I was trusting (that officer).  I was trusting him before the accident, and also after the accident.  And I have been living with these things inside me.  I will never trust anyone anymore because this was a very deadly mistake," he said.

Schettino claimed he had no way to tell how many people were still on board when he left the vessel.

"People don't understand that the ship is 58 meters (nearly 200 feet) wide, so you don't have a chance to see who else is left on the other side.  And in the moment the floor started to become steeper, you have no other option: To die, or to swim," he said. "So, I regret nothing."

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/16/16531308-former-costa-concordia-captain-i-regret-nothing?lite


« Last Edit: January 18, 2013, 03:24:14 PM by Host Mike »

Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #382 on: January 18, 2013, 03:29:02 PM »
"Giglio, Italy (CNN) -- A boat's horn bellowed 32 times off the coast of Italy on Sunday, honoring each of the victims who died a year ago when a luxury cruise liner ran aground.

Family members of those who perished tossed wreaths, lilies and notes into icy waters at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Costa Concordia crash. And a large boulder bearing a plaque with victims' names was lowered into the same sea that claimed their lives.


The somber memorial was a sharp contrast to the chaos of a year ago, when the massive ship ran aground with 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members on board.

According to passengers' accounts, pandemonium erupted as guests rushed to fill the lifeboats and escape the ship. Some crew members helped passengers and then jumped overboard; remaining members seemed helpless to handle the melee."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/13/world/europe/italy-cruise-ship-anniversary/index.html


Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #384 on: January 18, 2013, 03:41:32 PM »
"Aventura newlyweds David and Denise Saba were in Italy one year ago Sunday. They were one of thousands excited to board the Costa Concordia for their honeymoon. That excitement was short lived.

"It felt like a horrible earthquake and the ship started tilting very quickly to one side... it was a scary moment , they stopped the engines and it got calm. people were screaming and they were in panic but they lied to us so we believed that everything was OK," said David Saba.

A they would find out, things were far from okay.  The ship had run aground and the mammoth ship was taking on water rapidly through a massive hole.

"It was just like Titanic, people were throwing themselves on to the lifeboats. They wasted a lot of time and that's why people are dead today," said Denise Saba.
"People should not have thrown themselves to the water because they were in panic. This captain and his crew did not know what to do."

http://www.local10.com/news/One-year-later-couple-remembers-Costa-Concordia-disaster/-/1717324/18113670/-/14rfw97/-/index.html


Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #385 on: January 18, 2013, 03:44:44 PM »
"GIGLIO, Italy (AP) - More time and money will be needed to remove the Costa Concordia cruise ship from the rocks off Tuscany where it capsized last year, in part to ensure the toxic materials still trapped inside don't leak into the marine sanctuary when it is righted, officials said Saturday.

Continue reading

On the eve of the first anniversary of the grounding, environmental and salvage experts gave an update on the unprecedented removal project under way, stressing the massive size of the ship - 112,000 tons, its precarious perch on the rocks off the port of Giglio island and the environmental concerns at play.

The pristine waters surrounding Giglio are part of a protected marine sanctuary for dolphins, porpoises and whales, and are a favorite for scuba divers. Already, tourism was off 28 percent last year, thanks in part to the eyesore in Giglio's port.

Franco Gabriele, the head of Italy's civil protection agency, told reporters that officials are now looking at September as the probable date for removal, taking into account conservative estimates for poor weather and rough seas. Originally, officials had said they hoped to have it removed in early 2013.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/01/costa-concordia-more-time-money-needed-to-remove-ship-from-rocks-84001.html

Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #386 on: January 18, 2013, 03:50:07 PM »
"As fog horns and sirens wailed, a crane on a tug lowered the boulder back onto the reef off Giglio where it belonged, returning it to the seabed affixed with a memorial plaque. Relatives of the dead threw flowers into the sea and embraced as they watched the ceremony from a special ferry that bobbed in the waves under a grey sky.

They wept during the Mass and ran their fingers over the names of the 32 dead that were engraved on a bronze plaque unveiled at the end of Giglio's jetty, near where the Concordia still lays on its side. And later, under a cold rain, they gathered on the jetty holding candles to observe a moment of silence at 9:45 p.m., the exact moment when the Concordia slammed into the reef after Capt. Francesco Schettino took it off its pre-programmed course and brought it closer to Giglio as a favour to friends from the island."

"Taking part in the anniversary commemoration was Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian coast guard, who became something of a hero to survivors after his recorded conversations with Schettino during the evacuation were made public. In them, De Falco excoriated Schettino for having abandoned the ship before all passengers were off and ordered him to return, shouting the now-infamous order "Go on board (expletive)!"

http://www.globalnews.ca/world/world/unprecedented+effort+under+way+to+remove+costa+concordia+wreck+from+tuscan+maritime+reserve/6442787168/story.html



Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #387 on: January 30, 2013, 08:28:21 PM »
"As he arrived Wednesday for the closed-door hearing in Torre Annunziata, near Naples, Schettino was asked if he thought he'd command a ship again. He replied: "Yes, certainly."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57566639/francesco-schettino-costa-concordia-capt-says-hell-certainly-command-a-ship-again-contests-his-firing/



Offline Host Mike

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Re: Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy
« Reply #389 on: February 10, 2013, 04:12:53 PM »
"Law360, Miami (February 08, 2013, 7:36 PM ET) -- Carnival Corp. successfully defeated another U.S. suit over the deadly Costa Concordia shipwreck when a Florida federal judge ruled Wednesday that claims filed by three passengers and their parents would be better heard in an Italian court."

http://www.law360.com/productliability/articles/413884/costa-concordia-crash-suit-belongs-in-italy-judge-says