Princess Chatter

This was not the first accident involving the Costa Condordia, however. On November 22, 2008, the ship was pushed along the dock by high winds at Palermo in Sicily, causing damage to her bow. No injuries were reported.

"Rosenker said one of the first priorities for investigators will be to examine the ship's "black box" voice recorder.

"It actually would have recorded the voices of the people - the officers and crew that were on the bridge - and you'll be able to hear their discussion about what happened, and the decisions that they made after the vessel struck the rocks.

"The investigation will really delve into the captain's thinking, and the timing in which he made decisions, both into communicating what was going on to the passengers, ordering them to go back to their cabins to get their life preservers, and then to the final decision where you would evacuate the ship," Rosenker said."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57359299/fact-sheet-the-costa-concordia-cruise-liner/

"Coastguards meanwhile said divers had recovered the ship's "black box" which should contain records of the precise route and conversations among the crew. The search for survivors was called off for the night late on Saturday."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/thousands-rescued-41-still-missing-from-cruise-ship-costa-concordia-near-italy/story-e6frg6so-1226244612374

"Local prosecutors said Francesco Schettino was being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship following reports his stricken vessel failed to raise a mayday alert as the disaster unfolded."

http://www.travelagentcentral.com/newscred?guid=f27b37392d0cda35614404cbfe859a81

"Sky Italia reported Saturday that investigators based in the Tuscan city of Grosseto confirmed Francisco Schettino was detained for investigation of alleged manslaughter, abandoning his ship while people were still aboard and causing a shipwreck."

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/national_world&id=8505362

"The captain and the crew were the last ones to leave the ship, said a Costa Crociere spokesman, who declined to be named, citing company policy when reached before the report of Captain Schettino’s detention. The rocks weren’t on the map, Schettino said in an interview broadcast by TGCOM24. The ship was at least 300 meters from the island when it hit the rocks, and he was the last one to leave the ship, he said."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-14/carnival-corp-cruise-ship-runs-aground-off-italy-killing-at-least-three.html

"Authorities were looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, officials said. The ship is owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises.

"At the moment we can't exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn't send a mayday. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing," Del Santo said prior to the announcement of the arrest.

Giuseppe Orsina, a spokesman with the local civil protection agency, said 43 to 51 people were missing, though authorities are reviewing passenger lists to confirm the exact figure.

"These people could be still on the island of Giglio, in private houses or in hospitals," Orsina said.

The coast guard said 50 to 70 people could be missing.

---

The ship was 2.5 miles off route when it struck a rocky sandbar, according to the Italian Coast Guard. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor.

---

"Captain Schettino, who was on the bridge at the time, immediately understood the severity of the situation and performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew, and initiated security procedures to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation," he continued.

"Unfortunately, that operation was complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship that made disembarkation difficult," Onorato said.

Some passengers fell into the chilly waters during the rescue, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.

---

http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/208878/175/Captain-Of-Italy-Cruise-Ship-Arrested

"Italian prosecutors have detained the captain of the cruise ship that ran aground off Tuscany as three people are confirmed dead and local officials report that 69 people are still unaccounted for.

Earlier Saturday Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, had told Italian television that the vessel had hit a rocky spur while cruising in waters which, according to the charts, should have been safe.

"As we were navigating at cruise speed, we hit a rocky spur," he told Tgcom24 television station:

"According to the nautical chart, there should have been sufficient water underneath us," he added."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9014743/Cruise-disaster-three-confirmed-dead-and-69-passengers-still-missing.html

"There will certainly be an investigation but at this stage it's impossible to determine exactly what happened," said Italo Spalvieri of the Guardia di Finanze in the nearby port of Livorno."

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE80D08620120114?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

"Passengers complained that the evacuation was delayed and disorganised, exacerbating the panic on board.

Some complained that the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate the ship, with a drill only scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

"It was so unorganised. Our evacuation drill was scheduled for 5pm," said Melissa Goduti, 28, of Wallingford, Connecticut, in the US. "We had joked what if something had happened today [Friday]."

Passenger Mara Parmegiani told the Italian news agency Ansa that "it was like a scene from the Titanic".

Survivor Christine Hammer, from Bonn, Germany, said she was eating her first course when the ship ran aground.

"We heard a crash. Glasses and plates fell down and we went out of the dining room and we were told it wasn't anything dangerous," she said.

The passengers were then instructed to put on lifejackets and take to the lifeboats. But Hammer, who was travelling with her husband, Gert, on her first ever cruise trip, said people could not get into the lifeboats because the liner was listing so badly that they could not be lowered into the sea."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/14/italian-cruise-ship-runs-aground

"No one counted us, neither in the life boats or on land," said Ophelie Gondelle, 28, a French military officer from Marseille. She said there had been no evacuation drill since she boarded in France on Jan. 8.

As dawn neared, a painstaking search of the 290-meter (950-foot) long ship's interior was being conducted to see if anyone might have been trapped inside, Paolillo said.

"There are some 2,000 cabins, and the ship isn't straight," Paolillo said, referring to the Concordia's dramatic more than 45-degree tilt on its right side. "I'll leave it to your imagination to understand how they (the rescuers) are working as they move through it."

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/reports-cruise-ship-aground-off-italy-dead-15359045?page=2#.TxFpooHCaSo