Princess Chatter

"Italian salvage workers have pulled a further seven bodies from the wreck of the Costa Concordia. The victims include two French, three Germans and two Italians."

http://www.euronews.com/2012/03/13/more-bodies-pulled-from-concordia-wreck/

"MIAMI (CN) - Passengers on the doomed Costa Concordia cruise ship, which crashed and sank off Italy, paint a picture of chaos, panic and deceit, in a complaint against Carnival Corporation, in Miami-Dade County Court.

     Hector Perez and eight other plaintiffs say the captain, who abandoned ship, waited almost an hour and a half after he knew the ship would sink before giving the order to evacuate.

     "The stories told by passengers who survived the ordeal were ones of chaos, lies, and abandonment - Concordia's crew ignored her passengers, leaving only 'chefs and waiters' to help them survive - passengers were forced to jump into the freezing waters in an attempt to swim for shore," the complaint states."

"Within fifteen minutes of the collision, Concordia's engine room informed the captain that the hull was irreparably breached, that that generators and engines were submerged, and that 'there was nothing to be done' - the captain knew Concordia would sink," the complaint states.

     "Soon thereafter, the onboard lights began to flicker, Concordia began to list, and passengers began to panic.
     "The passengers, however, were not told of the collision nor that Concordia was sinking. Despite a coded alarm to the crew indicating a breached hull, passengers were told: 'Please stay calm, everything is under control, it's just a minor technical fault.'
     "Fending for themselves, passengers began to call the Italian police onshore, who forwarded their pleas to the Italian coast guard. In response, the Italian coast guard contacted Concordia for a report on the situation, but was not told of the collision nor the gash in her hull.
     "Around 10:05 p.m., Concordia's Captain told the coast guard that: 'It's all OK, it's just a blackout, we're taking care of the situation.'"
     The plaintiffs say passengers put on life vests and waited by lifeboats, as the ship began to list almost immediately after the crash.
     "Finally, around 10:50 p.m., again under pressure from the Italian coast guard, Concordia's Captain ordered the ship to be abandoned," the complaint states."

"The stories told by passengers who survived the ordeal were ones of chaos, lies, and abandonment - Concordia's crew ignored her passengers, leaving only 'chefs and waiters' to help them survive - passengers were forced to jump into the freezing waters in an attempt to swim for shore.

     "The events onboard the Concordia could not occur in the absence of negligence or reckless disregard of human life. Every passenger on board could have been saved had they been instructed to abandon ship immediately after the collision or had the passengers been allowed to follow their own instincts and board the lifeboats. Instead, the crew turned them away-a death sentence for some."
     The plaintiffs add: "Around 12:50 a.m., after a now infamous exchange in which the Italian coast guard chastised Concordia's captain and crew for their recklessness and cowardice in the face of the emergency, the Coast Guard took control of the operation."
     Twenty-five people died; seven are missing and presumed dead.
     The plaintiffs seek "all available damages" for negligence, negligent retention and negligent training."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/03/14/44682.htm

Looking for a relaxing read en route to your cruise? Then don't buy Fatal Voyage, The Wrecking of the Costa Concordia, a Kindle Singles e-book that takes an in-depth look at the modern day Titanic.

Written by journalist John Hooper, the e-book covers the worst passenger ship disaster since the Titanic in engaging detail. Numerous interviews with survivors describe plates falling as the ship's two-story dining room listed, the dark passageways where passengers crawled to reach an outside deck, the confusion around the lifeboats as the crew, acting without clear orders from above, tried to maintain control.

Hooper's experience as a Rome-based reporter for the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper stands him in good stead. The book contains details about the sinking that never made the U.S. coverage, including the Italians' collective embarrassment around one of their own, Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino."

http://www.gadling.com/2012/03/14/must-read-fatal-voyage-the-wrecking-of-the-costa-concordia-e-b/

"ROME - Underwater thieves have evaded an array of laser systems that measure millimetric shifts in the Costa Concordia shipwreck and 24-hour surveillance by the Italian coast guard and police to haul off a symbolic booty - the ship's bell. "

Judicial sources said on Thursday thieves nabbed the ship's bell more than two weeks ago from one of the decks of the Costa Concordia, which is submerged in 8 meters (26 feet) of water.

Investigators suspect more than one person was involved in stealing the heavy bell, etched with the ship's name and 2006, the year it was christened. Ships bells were traditionally used to signal half-hour intervals in a four-hour watch.

I can only guess that someone took it as a sort of morbid memento," Giglio's mayor, Sergio Ortelli, told Reuters.

"In my mind, the missing bell is of no importance. We have the ship's statue of the Madonna in our church, and that for us has much more symbolic meaning."

Divers recovered the meter-tall plaster statue of the Madonna in January from the ship's chapel and gave the statute to the parish priest of Giglio."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46747552/ns/travel-news/#.T2NkMnnCaSo

The stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia off the Isola del Giglio in January 2012. Greenpeace warned that chemicals from a cruise ship wreck were oozing into the sea around Italy's picturesque Giglio Island but the environment ministry said the levels were not "significant".

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-greenpeace-pollution-italy-cruise-ship.html

“Costa is beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, but it will take some time to get there,” [Carnival Corp. vice chairman and chief operating officer Howard] Frank said in the teleconference call with analysts. “So there should be no doubt, we view Costa as a great company and a great brand, with a terrific management team and with a great future.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/09/2684790_p2/carnivals-micky-arison-speaks.html

"Costa Concordia is being written off as a total loss by parent company Carnival Corporation.

The company is to receive $515 million in insurance for the crippled vessel which run around with 4,200 passengers and crew on board with the loss of at least 25 lives off the Italian island of Giglio in January.

This will offset the value of the six year old vessel which has been deemed to be a “constructive total loss”. It was originally thought the ship could have been salvaged."

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2012/03/09/39833/costa-concordia-a-total-write-off-says-carnival.html