Costa Concordia (Titanic 2012)

Great little harbour and town, we moored there last year. Lots of rocks, all well charted so "human error?" On one of the nearby islands we also saw a multi million £££££ superyacht with just its bows above the surface, sickening.
 
Its sister ship, the Costa Fortuna (you'd book on that if looking for a cheap deal, wouldn't you?) gave my five blasts a few years ago in Greece when I was ahead of her, minding my own business and holding course and speed. Maybe impatience is a company characteristic?
 
"Coast guard official Francesco Paolillo, a local coast guard official, told the AFP news agency there was a a 30m hole in the ship but that it was too early to say what exactly had happened.

"We think this happened as a result of sailing too close to an obstacle like a reef," he said."

Sounds like he may have been trained at the Hot Liquid PR School.
 
Three dead, no - six dead, no - three dead.........

Now, Italian Officials and Media, lets see if we can all count up to ten shall we.

One, Two, Three, Four....................
 
Isn't there a lesson to be learned from these "disaster"

Yes the ship is on it's side, but it's not completely sank.

So if passengers had KNOWN it was in shallow water, there was no need to abandon ship. Just make sure you keep to the high side. Then you can await rescue at your leisure.

Of the 6 that died, did they jump into the water?

The same thing struck me years ago with the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. Again, that didn't completely sink, just ended up on her side. Again, moving to the high side of the ship would have been safe, to await rescue.

Or am I completely missing something here? The only time you NEED to abandon ship is in deep water when the whole of the ship really will go under.
 
I don't know about this one, but I'm pretty sure a major problem on Herald of Free Enterprise was that people were trapped inside, couldn't get out onto the high side because of the strong windows; think a few brave souls managed to smash a window or two and get people out.

Remember this Italian accident happened in the dark, and most cruise passengers will not be familiar with the mechanics of a sinking / capsize; a great many will probably be elderly and not too sprightly, add to that the mix of languages.

It would appear that some of the crew jumped rather than tend to passengers, not very impressive though it's happened before, there was a case a few years ago when a Greek Captain legged it for himself and left the passengers to work things out !
 
moving around a ship with a significant list(>30 degrees) is not a trivial exercise even for the able bodied; once it's on its side it becomes well nigh impossible. If the lights go out expect deaths from trampling.
 
The Herald of Free Enterprise rolled onto its side very quickly. Can you imagine the carnage below as passengers and crew fell the full width of the decks? And if still ambulant after that, how do you climb to the high side again?
 
penfold said:
moving around a ship with a significant list(>30 degrees) is not a trivial exercise even for the able bodied; once it's on its side it becomes well nigh impossible. If the lights go out expect deaths from trampling.
Click to expand...

Penfold,

it seems from passenger reports that the lights went out very soon after she hit the reef, which begs a few questions re emergency lighting; as you say, in that situation in the dark it would be a nightmare.

From the rather dodgy video on the news, it looked as if there's an amazing amount of damage to the ships' bottom.
 
Seajet said:
From the rather dodgy video on the news, it looked as if there's an amazing amount of damage to the ships' bottom.
Click to expand...

Boy that is some hole! The ship is over 900' long.

_57885802_013702767-1.jpg


Image from the beeb.
 
ProDave said:
Isn't there a lesson to be learned from these "disaster"

Yes the ship is on it's side, but it's not completely sank.

So if passengers had KNOWN it was in shallow water, there was no need to abandon ship. Just make sure you keep to the high side. Then you can await rescue at your leisure.

Of the 6 that died, did they jump into the water?

The same thing struck me years ago with the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster. Again, that didn't completely sink, just ended up on her side. Again, moving to the high side of the ship would have been safe, to await rescue.

Or am I completely missing something here? The only time you NEED to abandon ship is in deep water when the whole of the ship really will go under.
Click to expand...

Actually I'm quite surprised at the small loss of life. Can you imagine what it must be like inside a ship under such conditions and suddenly finding yourself having to walk, scramble over, bulkheads & deckheads ? probably in jimjams & totally confused ?
 
Not a good week for large cruise ships, only the day before the MSC Poesia ran aground in the Bahamas, no apparent major damage of injury however.

One has to wonder about the skill of the officers?
 
Leighb said:
Not a good week for large cruise ships, only the day before the MSC Poesia ran aground in the Bahamas, no apparent major damage of injury however.

One has to wonder about the skill of the officers?
Click to expand...

Also the Costa Europa piled into an Egyptian dockside, killing 3 crew.

Re. the Concordia, I too am surprised at 'only' 3 dead in the circumstances, have a nasty feeling that will rise.
 
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