Carnival owned cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground off Italy

[Host Mike]

"An Italian crew member testified Monday that Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino was "too calm" during the cruise ship tragedy that claimed 32 lives last year.

"It was too calm on the bridge considering what was happening," said Giovanni Iaccarino, describing at Schettino's trial the events after the ship hit rocks off the island of Giglio on the night of January 14, 2012.

"We were telling the bridge that everything was out of order," he told the court in Grosseto, the city nearest to the site of the crash, where the trial against Schettino began in July.

Iaccarino went down to the engine room to see for himself after the impact of the crash, as water flooded into the ship through a gash in its side.

"It seems they did not realise the gravity of the situation," he said, adding: "They were saying 'okay, received' but they were not giving orders."

He said he saw Schettino later, as the ship keeled over, and that "he was trying to help but he seemed lost, he did not seem the person I knew"."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/131007/crewman-says-captain-too-calm-italy-cruise-tragedy

[Host Mike]

"Rome — Italian rescuers have found more human remains on the wreck of Italy's Costa Concordia, which are believed to belong to one of two victims who are still missing, the civil protection agency said Tuesday.

The "remains of a human body, which could be one of the two missing, an Indian waiter" were found on the third bridge of the cruise-liner which crashed off the tiny island of Giglio in January 2012, said Francesca Maffini, the agency's spokeswoman."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hWj20qOi0SNgM86cyKPeZGq6Ok4g?docId=f12f598d-9af7-4391-b68b-cc3ce859d247&hl=en

[Host Mike]

"THE world's largest heavy lifting ship may be used to remove the wreck of the Costa Concordia from the Italian island of Giglio, where it capsized after hitting the rocks in January 2012.

The semi-submersible Dockwise Vanguard can carry a weight of up to 120,000 tons – 5,500 more than the 950ft Concordia, which was successfully hauled upright last month and is due to be taken away for scrap."

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/cruise-ship-concordia-to-get-lift-to-scrapyard-29654460.html

[Host Mike]

"The successful raising of the Concordia was hailed as a much-needed boost to Italian national pride – despite the fact that the salvage teams came from nearly 20 nations. But the deliberations over where the Concordia will be taken to be cut up for scrap is becoming mired in a familiar mix of political meddling, bureaucratic ineptitude, and squabbling between different parts of Italy.

The nearest port is Piombino but its harbor isn’t deep enough to accommodate the ship and would need to undergo significant dredging and expansion.  That work has not even started – even though the Concordia is expected to be removed from Giglio in the spring of 2014.

“They’ll never be able to do it in time,” says one British maritime engineer who was not authorized to talk to the media but who worked for months on the raising of the liner.

Another candidate is Palermo in Sicily, which has a bigger port but is much further away from Giglio.

With time ticking away and no decision yet made, Italy runs the risk of losing out on the contract altogether – the latest suggestion is that the Concordia could be taken all the way to Smyrna in Turkey or even to India to be dismantled."

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2013/1021/Salvaging-the-Costa-Concordia-why-an-engineer-s-dream-is-a-daunting-task

[Host Mike]

"I have learned from the press that the remains belong to my wife but have had no official confirmation. They assured me I would be the first to know, it didn't go that way."

Mr. Vincenzi had earlier identified shoes and a necklace found with the remains as belonging to his wife."

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2013/10/articles/disappearances-1/human-remains-at-costa-concordia-shipwreck-identified-as-missing-italian-passenger-maria-trecarichi/

[Host Mike]

"ROME: The shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner could be re-floated by June 2014, the engineer overseeing the long-delayed salvage operation off the Italian island of Giglio said on Saturday.

He said giant tanks that will help float the ship will be fixed to its side by April, mirroring the ones already welded to the other side before the 290-metre (951-foot) ship was dragged upright in September."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/italy-cruise-wreck-to-be/922938.html

[Host Mike]

"Carnival said Tuesday that Foschi, 67, is retiring after 16 years with the company. Foschi retired as Costa Cruises CEO six months after the Concordia disaster. Parent company Carnival later named him head of its business in Asia.

Carnival said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that Foschi stopped working for the company in November and retired from its board Monday. He is getting a payment 1.25 million euros ($1.7 million) as part of a separation agreement."

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/travel/239116351.html

[Host Mike]

"ROME — The Costa Concordia cruise ship wreck will be removed in June from its watery graveyard off Tuscany and taken to a port to be dismantled, the final phase of an unprecedented 600 million-euro ($817 million) salvage effort.

At a news conference Friday, Italy's civil protection chief and Costa Crociere officials gave the timetable and the rundown of what was needed for the ship to be refloated. They spoke just days before the second anniversary of the ship's Jan. 13, 2012, grounding that killed 32 people.

A handful of Italian ports — including Piombino, Genoa, Palermo and Civitavecchia — are bidding to take in the wreck and dismantle it for scrap. Ports in France, Turkey, Britain and even China are also bidding for the job."

http://www.startribune.com/world/239591331.html

[Host Mike]

"Experts are trying to determine if any factors beyond human error contributed to the shipwreck, and next month they will examine the emergency generators.

A judge granted a request for the onboard investigation sought by Capt. Francesco Schettino's defense and a consumer group representing victims.

Schettino is the only person on trial, but his defense and others contend that Costa Crociere SpA, the ship's owner, bears some responsibility."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/23/costa-concordia-cruise-ship/4796347/

[Host Mike]

"ROME — A lawyer for the owner of the cruise ship Costa Concordia has told an Italian court that the captain made no mention of those who perished in the shipwreck but instead boasted the day after that he had saved lives with his skill."

http://www.startribune.com/world/242375601.html

[Host Mike]

"The shipwreck of the Costa Concordia claimed another life on Saturday — more than two years after the cruise liner capsized off the coast of Giglio Island, killing 32 people.

The victim, a 40 year old Spanish diver, belonged to the salvage team who is presently working at the project aimed to re-float the cruise liner and tow it away in June.

“The dynamics of the accident is under investigation,” the TITAN Salvage-Micoperi Team said in a statement.

According to local media reports, the diver, Israel Franco Moreno, was trapped under the wreck while working in the delicate operation preceding the installation of 19 buoyancy tanks to the side of the ship.

It appears that Moreno cut his trapped leg in a sheet of metal, bleeding to death.

“We are terribly sorry. Another life adds to the Concordia tragedy,” Giglio mayor Sergio Ortelli said.

“We hope to see the end of all this as soon as possible,” he added."

http://news.discovery.com/history/costa-concordia-cruise-liner-claims-another-life-140201.htm

[RichC]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/27/world/europe/italy-costa-concordia/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Host Mike]

"A witness giving evidence at Mr Schettino's trial claims that the ship's captain tried to blame the collision on a blackout.
 
Speaking in court on Monday, Roberto Ferrarini, who was the cruise company's marine operations director at the time of the accident, said: "Schettino proposed I tell authorities that a blackout caused the collision.
 
"I disagreed strongly and became angry. This was false and different to what he had told me earlier, namely that he had hit rocks and that the ship had flooded."

http://www.ybw.com/news/motorboats/536408/costa-concordia-captain-asked-cruise-company-official-to-lie-hears-court

[Host Mike]

    “I didn’t even have a life jacket because I had given it to one of the passengers. I was trying to get people to get into the boats in an orderly fashion.

    Suddenly, since the ship was at a 60 to 70 degree angle I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That’s how I found myself in the lifeboat,” he said."

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/captain-capsized-cruise-ship-says-tripped-fell-lifeboat/

[Host Mike]

"Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper reported that the ship would be scrapped in Genoa, though Lupi said the final decision was still to be taken on which of several possible Italian ports would get the bid.

According to Il Sole 24 Ore, the ship's owners have chosen a consortium consisting of oil service company Saipem and Genoa-based companies Mariotti and San Giorgio.

It added that Costa Cruises, Europe's biggest cruise operator, had decided to begin the delicate operation to re-float the vessel on July 20.

The stricken ship would then be towed 280 kilometres (170 miles) to Genoa."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140530/sunken-cruise-ship-concordia-be-scrapped-italy