Three killed in cruise ship tragedy

Three people have been killed and more injured after a Costa cruise ship ran aground off the Tuscan coast. The Costa Concordia, with more than 4,000 people on board, is reported to have run aground last night near the island of Giglio. According to the BBC, rescue teams have been going from cabin to cabin to search for survivors.

Reports said passengers were at dinner when they heard a long bang and were told the ship was having electrical problems.

The Costa Concordia had left Civitavecchia port near Rome earlier in the day for a Mediterranean cruise calling at ports in Sicily, Sardinia, Spain and France.

The Foreign Office said around 24 British passengers were on board. Most of the passengers were Italian, French and German.

In a statement, Costa Cruises said: "Our first thoughts go to the victims and we would like to express our condolences and our closeness to their families and friends.

"In this moment all our efforts are focused on the completion of the last emergency operations, besides providing assistance to the guests and the crew who were onboard.

"The company will fully co-operate with the relevant authorities in order to determine the causes of what happened."

With permission from Travelmole

Just awful. Thought I recognised the Captain when I saw his picture in his uniform. Just found a pic of hubby and I with said captain on Costa Victoria in 2007

Cruise ship search suspended leaving 16 passengers unaccounted for (Updated)

The search for missing passengers on the Costa Concordia cruise ship has been suspended after the ship slipped 9cm from its resting place.

Fears are growing that the vessel will soon sink 100 metres to the bottom of the ocean and stormy weather has hampered rescue efforts, reports the Daily Mail.

A five year old Italian girl and her father are among the 16 still unaccounted for. Ten of the 16 missing are passengers and six are crew members.

Giglio's Mayor Sergio Ortelli said: "The hopes of finding any more survivors are fading. There are also worries oil could start to spill from the ship - sparking an environmental disaster."

The number unaccounted for has increased because two Sicilian women, originally listed among the evacuated, have not contacted relatives.

The threat of an environmental disaster is also a concern with around 2,500 tons of fuel on board the ship.

Environment minister Corrado Clini said: "The environmental risk for the island of Giglio is extremely high. The goal is to avoid that the fuel leaks from the ship. We are working on this. The intervention is urgent."

The Costa Concordia, with more than 4,000 people on board, ran aground in calm conditions on Friday night near the island of Giglio, leading to the death of at least six people.

The captain, who is believed to have worked for the cruise line for 11 years, has been arrested on suspicion of multiple homicide. According to prosecutors, he left the ship before the evacuation. The first officer has also been detained.

Rescue crews found a sixth body - believed to be a male passenger - early this morning in one of the corridors.

A South Korean couple on their honeymoon were found alive in their cabin on Saturday night, 24 hours after the ship went down.

A senior crew member was also airlifted to safety on Sunday after being discovered in one of the restaurants with a broken leg, reports the Daily Mail. He is understood to have stayed behind to help passengers into lifeboats before falling when the ship listed.

The Foreign Office said around 24 British passengers were on board. Most of the passengers were Italian, French and German.

Costa Cruises' president Gianni Onorato said the cruise line would be working "in full transparency" with Italian authorities" to determine the cause of the accident".

In a statement, Costa Cruises said: "Our first thoughts go to the victims and we would like to express our condolences and our closeness to their families and friends.

"In this moment all our efforts are focused on the completion of the last emergency operations, besides providing assistance to the guests and the crew who were onboard.

"The company will fully co-operate with the relevant authorities in order to determine the causes of what happened."

Speaking to the BBC, Independent travel editor Simon Calder said it was unbelievable that a modern ship could list in this way and called into question the safety of the ship. He likened the tragedy to the sinking of the Titanic, which happened 100 years ago.

Costa Concordia was sailing on a Mediterranean cruise from Civitavecchia (Rome) with scheduled calls at Savona, Italy; Marseille, France; Barcelona, Spain; Palma de Mallorca; Cagliari and Palermo, Italy.

Costa Cruises says captain's error may be to blame

Costa Cruises says ‘significant human error' may have led to Costa Concordia running aground.

The cruise ship owner has made the first official comment on the cause of the tragedy in which at least six people have died and 15 are still unaccounted for (see previous story).

It said that the ship was too close to the shore and questioned Captain Francesco Schettino's judgment in handling the emergency.

Italian investigators are working on the theory that the £390million vessel sailed close to the island of Giglio to greet an officer from the Italian merchant navy who was friendly with those on the Concordia, according to the Daily Mail.

Last August the vessel passed close to the island sounding its whistle - prompting the mayor to send a congratulatory email to the captain for providing such a ‘spectacle to tourists' and ‘fantastic entertainment'.

The captain denies any wrongdoing.

A statement on Costa Cruises website said: "We are aware that the lead Prosecutor has levelled serious accusations against the ship's captain.

"While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship's Master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences.

"The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the Captain's judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures."

The company confirmed that Schettino joined Costa Crociere in 2002 as a safety officer and was appointed captain in 2006, after acting as staff captain.

Italian police are conducting two investigations - one into the route the captain took and one into the evacuation of the ship.

First officer Ciro Ambrosio was also arrested and detained. Schettino will be held until next week when a judge will decide whether he should be released or formally arrested, according to newspaper reports.

Costa Cruises added: "Our immediate priority is to account for all passengers and crew and to secure the vessel to ensure that there are no environmental impacts.

"It should be noted that the Prosecutor in charge has seized the ship and the DVR-- so called "black box" containing all navigation data and the vessel can be accessed by Costa only with permission from the authorities.

"As we are learning more about the event itself and the evacuation, however, it is becoming clear that the crew of the Costa Concordia acted bravely and swiftly to help evacuate more than 4,000 individuals during a very challenging situation.

"We are very grateful for all they have done."

Carnival tells markets financial impact of Costa Concordia

Carnival, parent company of Costa Cruises, has estimated 2012 earnings will be down at least $85million with Costa Concordia out of service.

The company said experts were already assessing the damage to the ship and trying to determine how long the ship will be out of service.

It added the ship is not expected to be in use for the rest of the financial year which finishes at the end of November.

Carnival accepted there would be other costs to the business that cannot yet be determined.

Carnival chairman and CEO Micky Arison said its priority is the safety of our passengers and crew.

He said: "We are deeply saddened by this tragic event and our hearts go out to everyone affected by the grounding of the Costa Concordia and especially to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives."

Commenting to markets on the financial impact of the grounding of Costa Concordia, Carnival said it had insurance coverage for damage and third party personal injury, subject to a $30million and $10 million excess.

It said the company self-insures for loss of use of the cruise ship, meaning an amount of money is set aside to compensate for the potential future loss.

The statement said: "For the fiscal year ending November 30, the impact to 2012 earnings for loss of use is expected to be approximately $85-$95 million or $0.11-$0.12 per share.

"In addition, the company anticipates other costs to the business that are not possible to determine at this time."

Shares in Carnival have fallen 21% wiping nearly £1 billion from its market value. Its stock had already fallen about 30% over the previous year.

PSA seeks to reassure cruise passengers over ship safety

The Passenger Shipping Association has offered reassurance to cruise passengers following the Costa tragedy.

At least six people have been confirmed dead and others remain missing after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy on Friday night (see earlier story).

As images of the ship lying on its side are beamed around the world, PSA director Bill Gibbons reassured passengers that incidents like this are isolated and very rare.

"Ships' crews undertake rigorous training, drills and scenarios for emergency situations including the evacuation of a vessel," he said.

"The ships themselves comply with stringent regulations and procedures from the governing maritime authorities covering every aspect of their build and operation."

He said Costa and the wider cruise industry would fully cooperate in a full and thorough investigation into the causes of this event.

"We would like to reassure other cruise ship passengers that PSA member cruise companies operate to the highest safety standards around the world and according to international maritime requirements," he added.

"During the past two decades, cruise lines have maintained the best safety record in the travel industry while transporting more than 90 million people throughout the world."

With permission from Travelmole

UPDATE: Concordia death toll rises to 11

Five more bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of the submerged Costa Concordia, according to the BBC, bringing the death toll so far to 11.

The bodies were found in a flooded section of the 4,200-passenger vessel, which sank off the coast of Italy on Friday. Twenty-four people are still missing.

Reports say rescue workers, who worked through the night to search for survivors, have combed all the areas of the ship still above the water-line, leading to fears that those who are missing are in submerged areas of the ship and therefore unlikely to be found alive.

Local coastguard Marco Brusco told the BBC there was only a glimmer of hope that more survivors would be found.

All 35 Britons who were amongst the 4,200 passengers aboard the vessel when it crashed into rocks off Italy's west coast on Friday, just two hours into a seven-night cruise, are believed to be safe. Those missing include passengers and crew from the US, Germany, France, Italy and Poland. The youngest is thought to be a five-year-old girl whose father is also missing.

The ship's captain Francesco Schettino, 52, has been detained on suspicion of manslaughter following allegations he deliberately changed the course of the ship to sail close to Giglio Island to perform a salute to a retired former captain and to impress the family of the ship's head waiter, who lived on the island.

A judge is due to decide shortly whether he should remain in custody.

"The captain is in a very difficult position because we are sure enough that he abandoned the ship when many passengers were still waiting to be evacuated," prosecutor Francesco Verusio told the BBC.

It said a transcript purportedly of conversations between the captain and the coastguard has emerged in the Italian media - apparently drawn from one of the ship's black box recorders - which appears to corroborate the claims that the captain left the ship before all the passengers escaped.

Capt Schettino has denied wrongdoing and says the rocks were not on his charts. He has insisted that he and his crew were the last people to leave the vessel.

His lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, said his client was "overcome and wants to express his greatest condolences to the victims", adding that the captain had carried out a dangerous manoeuvre that had actually saved lives.

Italy says it will declare a state of emergency over the incident, and provide funding to help avert any environmental disaster. The Italian environment minister said liquid was leaking from the ship, but it was unclear if it was fuel.

Concordia will be most costly maritime disaster

The sinking of the Costa Concordia, which has claimed at least six lives, will go down as the most costly maritime disaster.

It is expected to cost the insurance industry about $750m and parent Carnival will have to pay a $40m excess.

The company's share price has plunged 370p to £18.78, wiping £3.5bn off its value, as analysts try to estimate how much the disaster would cost the company in terms of repairs and lost earnings.

Rescue workers have yet to access the extent of the damage to the £372m Costa Concordia, which rescue workers are continuing to comb for 29 missing passengers as it lies holed off the coast of Italy.

Experts say it is possible the ship could be salvaged, though, depending on the extent of the damage, it could be declared a write-off. Carnival has already said it will remain out of service at least until the end of its financial year in November.

With permission from Travelmole

Concordia emergency procedures called into question by new video footage

Carnival is to carry out a major review of its safety and emergency procedures following the Costa Concordia tragedy.

The announcement comes as amateur video footage has emerged showing Concordia crew telling passengers that nothing was wrong and advising them to go back to their cabins, after the ship began taking in water.

It is believed that the delay in deciding to evacuate the ship may have cost lives.

At least 11 people have died and hopes are fading for the 21 who remain missing after the ship hit rocks off the Tuscan coast a week ago.

Rescue workers have been forced to stop their search again after the ship moved in choppy seas.

According to BBC reporters at the scene, rescue officials fear the ship could suddenly slip into much deeper water.

This morning Carnival, which ownes Costa, P&O, Cunard, Princess Cruises and other cruise brands, admitted that the tragic accident had "called into question our company's safety and emergency response procedures and practices".

Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc, said: "While I have every confidence in the safety of our vessels and the professionalism of our crews, this review will evaluate all practices and procedures to make sure that this kind of accident doesn't happen again."

The review is being led by Captain James Hunn, a retired US Navy Captain and currently the company's senior vice president of Maritime Policy & Compliance.

Hunn and senior health and safety executives from each of the lines will review all safety and emergency response policies and procedures, officer and crew training and evaluation, bridge management and company-wide response and support efforts.

The cruise line is also bringing in outside industry-leading experts in the fields of emergency response organisation, training and implementation to conduct an audit of all of the company's emergency response and safety procedures and to conduct a thorough review of the Costa Concordia accident.

Yesterday at a press conference, the Cruise Lines International Association called for a major safety review by the International Maritime Organisation.

With permission from Travelmole

Whilst every ship has to ensure all passengers are familiar with the muster station locations within 24 hours of sailing, I believe there is now a case for every captain to have to do at least one dummy full "evacuation" per year.

Not necessarily getting the passengers physically off the ship, but sounding the emergency signal when no one is expecting it and getting all passengers to their musters stations and all lifeboats into the water. It keeps all crew focussed as they know they will be tested on what they are being told about evacuation procedures.

It will be an inconvenience for passengers, but it was for us when the fire alarm went off in a hotel we were staying in at 5 in the morning. We evacuated, there had been a small fire in the kitchen, but a few minutes spent on a street in Dublin was better than burning to death.

The cruise lines seem to pay lip service to the emergency procedures nowadays, either that or the procedure has changed.

When we first started cruising, not only did you go to your muster point complete with life jacket, you actually went to your designated lifeboat where there were further instructions. The last few cruises we have been on, it has just been a case of going to your muster station where it was very difficult to see or hear any instructions.

luci

Been on 3 Thomson cruises in the last year compulsory for all new passengers to go with their lifebelts to their muster stations this is usually done on the first full day of the cruise it familiarises you with the emergency siren signal and the route from your cabin. The only thing I am a bit wary of is that the advice is if you are away from your cabin when the emergency signal sounds you should return to your cabin put on warm clothing and collect your life lacket. Depending on the nature of any incident if I was already out on deck I would be reluctant to go back inside to try and get to a cabin on a lower deck.

With regards to this current terrible incident I think they are possibly being over cautious in suspending the search if the ship moves 1.5cm (less than an inch)

nickmacuk wrote:

With regards to this current terrible incident I think they are possibly being over cautious in suspending the search if the ship moves 1.5cm (less than an inch)

I think that decision is best left to the brave souls diving through the darkness surrounded by all the detritus floating around them!

On the BBC site today it says that one of the bodies found does not match anyone on the passenger manifesto or crew muster sheet! It is speculated that there may have been several 'illegal' passengers on board. Apparently the woman the captain had dinner with on the night of the tragedy is not on any manifest!

If there were non registered passengers than from my experience that would take quite a conspiracy to cover up as everytime you step on or off the boat your ID is scanned.

Cruiselines 'to begin immediate safety drills'

Cruises are likely to begin holding safety drills before a ship leaves port following the Costa Concordia tragedy. One maritime expert admitted this could lead to delayed departures and inconvenience passengers but he said it was necessary to raise safety standards.

Under existing maritime law, a drill must be held within 24 hours of setting sail, which is why passengers who boarded the ill-fated Concordia hadn't gone through the drill before the ship hit rocks and capsized off the island of Giglio 10 days ago.

Some cruise ships already hold a drill immediately before setting sail, but on large vessels it can take an hour or even longer if some passengers fail to follow instructions and go to their muster stations, which could delay a voyage.

But at a Passenger Ship Safety Conference in London, captain William Wright, a marine expert for the US trade body Cruise Line International Association, said he expected all cruise lines to hold a drill immediately in future, rather than wait for the International Maritime Organisation to pass a new law.

His comments came as speculation emerged that there may have been unregistered passengers and or crew onboard the Concordia. Head of the Civil Protection Authority in Italy, Franco Gabrielli is reported saying: "There could have been x persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine" passengers aboard the ship."

He said the family of a Hungarian woman who was not registered on the ship, insist that their daughter telephoned them from the Concordia, where they say she was working, and that they have not heard from her since.

This has led to speculation that some passengers were smuggled on board by crew, or that passengers turned up and registered at the last minute but the information might not have been relayed to Costa Cruises by the time the ship capsized two hours later.

Costa Cruises denies the possibility there were unknown passengers aboard the ship, which has so far claimed 13 lives. Five of the bodies pulled from the sea have yet to be identified.

Update: Concordia death toll rises to 15

Two more bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of Costa Concordia, bringing the total number of confirmed dead to 15.

Authorities in Italy admitted they were still searching for '24 or 25 people', rather than the 19 people officially unaccounted for.

The uncertainty comes from speculation there may have been unauthorised passengers and crew onboard.

The two latest bodies to be retrieved, both women, are believed to have been found in or near on internet cafe on the ship, which capsized 10 days ago after ramming into rocks off the island of Giglio.

One of the bodies found is said to be that of Italian honeymooner Maria D'Introno, 30, who was on the cruise with her new husband Vincenzo Roselli and her in-laws, who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

Italian authorities have now given the go ahead to pump fuel from the stricken ship, but they say rescue workers will continue to search the wreck.

They say the two activities can proceed in tandem and the pumping of fuel is expected to begin within 24 hours. The ship was carrying almost 2m litres of fuel when it capsized. An Italian naval vessel is on standby in case of leakage.

With permission from Travelmole

I wonder what the Navy can do if it does leak apart from radio to tell everyone!

The issue of 'Non registered passengers' is possibly one of the significant factors to come out of this. If it proves to be true then this puts in jeopardy the whole security of a ship. On all the cruises I have been on you enter and leave the ship through a secure gangway that has a metal detector plus a computerised register where you use a swipe card that registers if yo are on or off the ship access without a card in theory should be impossible. It would therefore show a breach of the ships security if this has happened. It would be a serious breach if they are unauthorised 'passengers' and could prove an even greater disaster f terrorist could use the same methods to access ships.

nickmacuk wrote:

The issue of 'Non registered passengers' is possibly one of the significant factors to come out of this. If it proves to be true then this puts in jeopardy the whole security of a ship. On all the cruises I have been on you enter and leave the ship through a secure gangway that has a metal detector plus a computerised register where you use a swipe card that registers if yo are on or off the ship access without a card in theory should be impossible. It would therefore show a breach of the ships security if this has happened. It would be a serious breach if they are unauthorised 'passengers' and could prove an even greater disaster f terrorist could use the same methods to access ships.

I agree. If this happened then it would not be one person on the crew doing it. It would require a lot of 'looking the other way' by lots of different people to make this work.

Absolutely agree Nickmacuk! Some ships even have eye recognition. Cruise ships would be an ideal terrorist target were it not for security measures. Seems there was a lot of things not right with the running of the Concordia.

Search for bodies on Costa Concordia abandoned

Italian divers have completely abandoned their search for bodies inside the Costa Concordia after conditions underwater deteriorated, the BBC said today.

"We have definitively stopped the underwater search inside the ship," a spokesman for the fire brigade on the island said.

Seventeen bodies have been recovered since the ship capsized on January 13 but 15 people are still missing. Divers are unable to continue searching the parts of the ship that are under water as the corridors are cluttered with furniture and the sea is too choppy.

Also, dives have been limited to 50 minutes, which has prevented them from penetrating far into the inside of the ship.

Italy's civil protection agency, which has been overseeing rescue efforts, said it had contacted the families of the missing, and the foreign embassies involved, to explain its decision.

It said emergency crews would continue to inspect parts of the ship that remain above water and use specialist equipment to check whether there could be any corpses on the sea bed, it said.

Uninjured passengers were last week offered $11,000 (about £9,200) each compensation by Costa Cruises to cover loss of belongings, inconvenience and distress, on condition they drop any legal action.

However, a class-action is being filed in the US demanding at least £105,000 for each passenger, said the BBC.

With permission from Travelmole

On channel 4 tonight there was a programme about the disaster, passenger footage and passenger events. It was quite upsetting to watch to be honest

New safety drill for cruise industry

The cruise industry has announced a new emergency lifeboat drill to be carried out before departure from port following the Costa Concordia disaster.

The new policy, which requires passengers to be informed about safety protocols and emergency evacuation before the ship leaves, is part of the Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review launched on 27 January.

On rare occasions that passengers arrive after the muster has been completed, they will be provided with individual or group safety briefings.

Current legal requirements only say that a muster should occur within 24 hours of passenger embarkation. This is why passengers who boarded the ill-fated Concordia hadn't gone through the drill before the ship hit rocks and capsized off the island of Giglio on 13 January.

The Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review will include a comprehensive assessment of the critical human factors and operational aspects of maritime safety. Recommendations will be made on an on-going basis.

With permission from Travelmole

Costa Concordia salvage to begin

Salvage work on the Costa Concordia is due to start any day and will be the biggest operation of its kind.

Huge cranes and air tanks will be used to refloat the cruise liner.

The work is estimated to cost £190 million and last about a year, said the ship's operator Costa Cruises, owned by Carnival.

The 290-metre-long cruise liner capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio after hitting rocks on January 13. At least 30 people died and two are still unaccounted for.

Its captain Francesco Schettino faces multiple charges.

"This will be the largest refloat in history but we think it's entirely possible," said Richard Habib, president of the US salvage group which will begin refloating the ship in the next week or so.

The ship will be stabilised to prevent it from shifting down a rocky ledge and plunging into the deep waters of the surrounding marine reserve.

Once salvaged, the ship will be towed to an Italian port and broken up.

With permission from Travelmole