Survivor recounts Costa Concordia cruise capsizing 10 years later
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GIGLIO, Italy — Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Schettino argued that he fell into a lifeboat because of how the ship was listing to one side, but this argument proved unconvincing. In 2015, a court found Schettino guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship before passengers and crew were evacuated and lying to authorities about the disaster.
Securing wreck site and protecting environment
Lifting the ship more than 12 meters off the giant underwater platforms that have been supporting it since September will take three or four days, but raising it the first two meters will be the most dangerous part of the exercise. That’s when the hull could crack and spill out a toxic stew of chemicals, rotten food and debris trapped since the shipwreck that has been swilling around inside the sunken ship for more than two years. If the hull breaks apart, the ship would likely never be removable from Giglio in one piece and would have to be dismantled in situ. “I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after,” he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats. The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, had been performing a sail-past salute of Giglio when he steered the ship too close to the island and hit the jagged reef, opening a 230-foot gash in the side of the cruise liner. The opinion of professional naval architect Rick Spilman can be applied to Viking Sky, Pacific Sun, Norwegian Escape and any other modern cruise ship.
But let’s face it: The base fare alone isn’t ultra-affordable compared to other cruise ships.
When a cruise ship rolls, it rights itself faster than an ocean liner would because of all that weight (the bilge, the fuel, the ballast tanks, the engines, the food stores etc) that’s all kept down below the waterline. So cruise ships are designed to weather 15-metre (50-foot) waves, which are in themselves rare, and extremely unlikely to be encountered by a cruise ship. According to Harry Bolton, retired captain of the training ship Golden Bear at the California Maritime Academy, a modern cruise ship could hypothetically be capsized by a 70 to 100-foot wave if it took it directly on the beam. While there have been instances where a cruise ship has tipped over, these incidents are extremely rare.
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In 2009, the navigational team on Carnival Dream heeled (laid the ship over) the ship 45 degrees. The people who constructed gallows on the west front of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, have never been identified. CBS News obtained new video showing people moving pieces into place before dawn. Autoworkers at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted Friday night to join the United Auto Workers after two previous organizing attempts fell short.
According to a video posted on Twitter during the Viking Sky incident, the degree of roll was around 15 to 20-degress, although it looks and likely felt much steeper. After ensuring the rescue of all individuals in distress, Carnival Dream was able to continue on its way to its next port of call, Cozumel, Mexico, approximately 230 miles (370 kilometers) north-northeast of Belize City. The overturned craft appeared to be overcrowded, though there was sufficient lifesaving gear distributed to all individuals, male and female. There is no indication of whether the incident involved a local tour boat, recreational vessel, or migrant craft. Carnival Dream assisted local Belize tenders in rescuing more than a dozen people stranded on a capsized craft.
Passengers and personnel
In the (now-defunct) blog Made in America Blogging, the author ‘Teddy Sheperd’ says that cruise ships are unstable and therefore unsafe because they have a shallower draft than ocean liners. Modern cruise ships are designed to be able to roll up to 60-degrees and recover, in this picture, Costa Concordia has partially sunk and is lying at a 65-degree angle. “I guarantee you’re never going to be in those kinds of waves anyway,” he said.
years later, Costa Concordia disaster is still vivid for survivors
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While the weather was unpleasant, the ship remained seaworthy at all times,” it said in a statement at the time. Carnival Dream is currently homeported from Galveston, offering 6-night Western Caribbean sailings and 8-night Eastern Caribbean cruises, with the occasional longer Journeys cruise on its schedule. The ship is scheduled to remain sailing from Galveston through at least April 2025. It is a credit to the ship’s officers and crew that they are alert to such diverse situations and safely able to attend to those in need, whether onboard guests or other mariners in distress. Carnival Dream was leaving Belize City after visiting on Wednesday, May 17, when the ship’s officers spotted a capsized boat with a large group in distress. HM Coastguard rescue teams were sent from Birling Gap and Newhaven following reports of an incident at around 5.20am on Friday.
Once Costa Concordia was upright, it needed to be raised up out of the water and refloated to be towed to a scrapyard. A modern mega-ship slammed into a rock then began to sink on the evening of Friday the 13th. Crews have finally completed the salvage and are towing the Costa Concorida to a scrapyard in Northern Italy.
For Concordia survivor Georgia Ananias, the COVID-19 infections are just the latest evidence that passenger safety still isn’t a top priority for the cruise ship industry. Passengers aboard the Concordia were largely left on their own to find life jackets and a functioning lifeboat after the captain steered the ship close too shore in a stunt. He then delayed an evacuation order until it was too late, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was listing too heavily.
Earlier this month, an 86-year-old male guest was evacuated from the ship with “side effects from ingesting a battery,” an unusual reason for any cruise medical evacuation. Fortunately, Icon of the Seas' nighttime entertainment is also a great equalizer. Its ice skating performance, rendition of the Broadway hit "Wizard of Oz," and multi-disciplinary dance, swim, and dive show are complimentary to all guests. Or they could work off their lunch buffet by sweating it out at the sports court — basketball and ping pong included — for no extra charges. In search of variety, grab a Mediterranean-style wrap or crepe at the five-stall food hall instead.
According to the Cruise Lines International Association, there have been only a handful of incidents where a cruise ship has capsized in the past 20 years. During this time, the cruise industry has carried tens of millions of passengers safely. Today’s massive cruise ships are more equipped to withstand rough seas and high waves and have extensive safety measures and emergency systems to alert staff of potential issues. The cruise industry hosts over 20 million passengers annually on hundreds of cruise ships.
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The move could not come too soon, because the risk that it will damage the environment is much higher now than when the ship originally crashed near the Tuscan island of Giglio in January 2012. Final preparations are under way to refloat and remove the Costa Concordia from the pristine waters off Giglio in what has been the largest and most expensive maritime salvage operation ever attempted. The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull.
Cruise ships also have stabilizing fins extending from the ship’s side, which help reduce the ship’s rolling motion, especially in rough seas, creating a more enjoyable experience for guests. Another important stability feature is the ship’s ballast, which is composed of a heavy material, such as water or sand, used to help stabilize the ship. During sea trials – which occur well before a ship carries its first passenger – the vessels are put through almost every conceivable scenario concerning stability. And with today’s computer modeling, cruise ship safety is light years ahead of just a few decades ago.
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