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In July 2013 four crew members and Costa Crociere’s crisis coordinator pled guilty to various charges, including manslaughter. That same month Schettino went on trial after being denied a plea bargain. He was charged with manslaughter as well as causing the wreck and abandoning ship. During the 19-month trial, prosecutors claimed that he was an “idiot,” while Schettino countered that his actions had saved lives and that he was being scapegoated. In addition, he noted the steering error by the helmsman, but a maritime expert testified that regardless of the mistake, the collision was unavoidable. In February 2015 Schettino was convicted on all charges and sentenced to more than 16 years in prison.
Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia accident eyewitness accounts
A coast guard member angrily told him on the phone to “Get back on board, damn it! ”—a recorded sound bite that turned into a T-shirt slogan in Italy. Evidence introduced in Schettino’s trial suggests that the safety of his passengers and crew wasn’t his number one priority as he assessed the damage to the Concordia.
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A few, it appears, perhaps seven or eight, died after jumping into the water, either from drowning or hypothermia. Most, however, were found inside the ship, suggesting they had drowned when the Concordia rolled a little after midnight. Both helicopters were, figuratively and literally, operating in the dark. There was no chance of communication with anyone on board; the only way to assess the situation, in fact, was to lower a man onto the Concordia.
Wrecking Near the Shore
Costa Concordia: Ten years on pianist recalls terrifying escape from the capsized cruise liner - Sky News
Costa Concordia: Ten years on pianist recalls terrifying escape from the capsized cruise liner.
Posted: Thu, 13 Jan 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Giovanni Rossi and his crew alone managed to ferry at least 160 of them safely into the harbor. Others, blocked or delayed in getting into lifeboats, threw themselves into the water and swam toward the rocks at Point Gabbianara, 100 yards way. One of these was a 72-year-old Argentinean judge named María Inés Lona de Avalos. Repeatedly turned away from crowded lifeboats, she sat on the deck amid the chaos. “I could feel the ship creaking, and we were already leaning halfway over,” she later told a Buenos Aires newspaper. A Spaniard beside her yelled, “There’s no other option!
In a first step to prevent pollution of the shore and assist in a refloat the ship, its oil and fuel tanks were emptied. Rose Metcalf, a dancer who had been performing on the ship, was one of the last people to be winched to safety by a helicopter after clinging to the stricken vessel. Rescue teams searched for survivors and helicopters evacuated the last 50 people on the deck. "Usually there are 700 people on the island at this time of year, so receiving 4,000 people in the middle of the night wasn't easy," she said. "It was difficult to walk. First it moved once, then to the left and then more on the right. The boat was tipping one side. You could see the ship was sinking more and more. In half an hour it sank halfway into the water," she said.
The 8 Worst Cruise Ship Disasters - U.S. News & World Report
The 8 Worst Cruise Ship Disasters.
Posted: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Criminal proceedings against officers
When he returned for his father, Giovanni, an 85-year-old Sardinian, he had vanished. Masia ran up and down the deck, searching for him, but Giovanni Masia was never seen again. Six hours later the Concordia would be lying on its side in the sea, freezing water surging up the same carpeted hallways that hairdressers and newlyweds were already using to head to dinner. Of the 4,200 people on board, 32 would be dead by dawn.
Several of the ship’s crew, notably Capt. Francesco Schettino, were charged with various crimes. A little more than an hour after impact, the crew began to evacuate the ship. But the report noted that some passengers testified that they didn’t hear the alarm to proceed to the lifeboats.
If something wasn’t done immediately, it would sink there. The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull. The blackout after the ship’s engine room flooded and its generators failed.
What Does Italy’s Sinking Ship Mean for the Cruise Industry?
“Then the pilot told me we only had two minutes left—we were running out of fuel—so I said to these people, ‘Don’t move! ’ ” With three passengers now aboard, Nemo 1 wheeled into the night sky and headed to the town of Grosseto to refuel. Its momentum had carried it north along the island’s coastline, past the harbor, then past a rocky peninsula called Point Gabbianara. By 10 P.M., 20 minutes after striking the rock, the ship was heading away from the island, into open water.
She said blankets and clothes were provided for those who arrived on the island, while churches and schools were opened to ensure that people had a roof over their head. Cruise ship shop worker Fabio Costa said when people realised there was a serious problem, there were scenes of desperation. "We told the guests everything was ok and under control and we tried to stop them panicking," cabin steward Deodato Ordona recalled. Those on board said the boat suddenly tilted to the left.
The ship was ripped open when it hit the shore and more than 4,000 passengers and crew were forced into a chaotic evacuation. Investigators had severely criticised his handling of the disaster, accusing him of bringing the 290m-long vessel too close to shore when it struck rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Ortelli was later on hand when, in September 2013, the 115,000-ton, 300-meter (1,000-foot) long cruise ship was righted vertical off its seabed graveyard in an extraordinary feat of engineering. But the night of the disaster, a Friday the 13th, remains seared in his memory. All day Saturday, rescue workers fanned out across the ship, looking for survivors. Sunday morning they found a pair of South Korean newlyweds still in their stateroom; safe but shivering, they had slept through the impact, waking to find the hallway so steeply inclined that they couldn’t safely navigate it.
Alaska resident Nate Lukes was with his wife, Cary, and their four daughters aboard the ship and remembers the chaos that ensued as the ship started to sink. Some people decided it was too difficult to get on to a lifeboat and chose to swim, with a number safely reaching the nearby island of Giglio. "Everything happened really fast. Everybody tried to get a life boat and people started to panic. A lot of people were falling down the stairs and some were hurt because things fell on them. Eyewitnesses have described scenes of chaos on board the Italian cruise ship the Costa Concordia, which has run aground off Italy, killing at least five people. Schettino said he had taken the ship so close to land for "commercial reasons" in a bid to please his passengers and those ashore. The vessel’s captain, Francesco Schettino, was arrested on Saturday.
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