[jogiba]

The captain, Francesco Schettino, had sailed perilously close to the coast so that the Costa Concordia's head waiter could salute his family on land, according to other media reports.

Meanwhile, Italian coast guard officials late Monday raised number of missing from Friday's shipwreck to 29 -- four crew members and 25 passengers, a top coast guard official, Marco Brusco, said on state TV. That total is up from 16 cited by authorities earlier in the day. Bruno didn't immediately explain the rise. Six bodies have been recovered.

The father of the ship's head waiter told Reuters that his son had telephoned him before the accident to say the crew would salute him by blowing the ship's whistle as they passed by the island of Giglio, where both the waiter, Antonello Tievoli, and his 82-year-old father Giuseppe live.

"The ship obviously came too close," the elder Tievoli said, according to Reuters.

"I don't know if Antonello asked the captain to come near, but the responsibility is always the captain's."

Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted witnesses as saying that shortly before the accident, the captain called the head waiter to the bridge saying, “Antonello, come see, we are very close to your Giglio.”

Overhead Bin - Captain's favor to head waiter to blame for cruise ship disaster?

---

Last edited by jogiba; 01-16-2012 at 04:55 PM.

[pickles]

Could this ship be re-floated, & made operational again?
Cheers, Pickles.

[Don From The Radio]

Could this ship be re-floated, & made operational again?
Cheers, Pickles.

Maybe. Worse wrecks have been. It's not an old ship at all.

I find this to be a really good photo.

[TOUGEFC]

How it happened-
http://news.sky.com/home/interactive-graphics/costa-concordia

[Mike Cash]

My eyes hurt from rolling so much over people saying it was "just like the Titanic".

Uhhhh......how about it was EFFING NOTHING LIKE THE EFFING TITANIC......Jesus.

Unless the Titanic gently settled to rest on a shallow bottom within spitting distance of a Mediterranean port, with the loss of one-fifth of one percent of those aboard, the rest being taken off by the swift action of fire, police, coast guard, and other services' boats and helicopters, that is. I suppose that must be what happened to the Titanic, but over the decades things just got exaggerated by Hollywood.

Compared to the disaster that was the Titanic, in the annals of maritime tragedies this hardly rates as more than a minor incident and would be entirely unworthy of note were it not for the honking huge-assed size of the ship and the utterly stupid manner in which a half-billion dollar investment sank to the bottom with it.

Is it just the current generation which feels a need to sensationally over-horribilize things in order to feed their sense of historical relevance? Or is it a basic trait we've always had and the Information Age just magnifies it?

[jogiba]

Right, people swim to shore all the time in the winter from cruise ships. I guess don't compare it to what people did getting off the Titanic but to a winter vacation cruise with a small glitch.

[jolepp]

BBC News - Costa Concordia: Satellite image

[jogiba]

Francesco Schettino, captain of the doomed Costa Concordia that partially sunk on Friday, said he did not abandon ship, according to a transcript published by Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper and reported by the Associated Press.

"I did not abandon a ship with 100 people on board ... the ship suddenly listed and we were thrown into the water," Schettino reportedly said during a recorded telephone conversation with Capt. Gregorio De Falco of the Italian coast guard in Livorno.

The transcript also showed the coast guard official urgently commanding the captain to return to the cruise ship after he had abandoned it.

"You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me?" the Coast Guard officer shouted as Schettino sat safe in a life raft and frantic passengers struggled to escape the listing ship. "It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'Abandon ship.' Now I am in charge."

Overhead Bin - Report: Cruise ship captain claims he fell overboard

But given the damage, it may just be cut up and taken away in parts for scrap. The insurer has to assess the cost of repairs and the cost of getting it into a position to repair it.

What's the deal with insurance?

A normal salvage operation to recover a ship is paid for by the ship's insurers
But if a ship becomes a write-off and has very residual value under scrap, then the wreck removal operation is paid for by those underwriting the liabilities of the ship owner


"There's every possibility that it could be salvaged but it's going to be a very tricky salvage operation," says Richard Meade of Lloyd's List, a leading daily newspaper for the maritime industry.

"I think the likelihood is that this is going to be declared a total loss."

BBC News - Costa Concordia: What next for the stricken ship?

[jogiba]

Survivors of the Costa Concordia wreck are being offered 30% off future cruises with the company — a sales pitch that was not received with much gratitude Sunday.
They plan to file a class-action suit Wednesday in Miami, where Carnival is based, seeking $160,000 a passenger — or almost $513 million if all 3,206 passengers were to be paid.

The cruise line blames hapless Capt. Francesco Schettino for running the luxury liner on to rocks off the Tuscan coast on Jan. 13, holding him fully responsible for killing at least 30 people.

Carnival offers survivors of doomed cruise Costa Concordia 30% off future cruise; outraged passengers prepare for lawsuit - NY Daily News

[Ratmagiclady]

Carnival offers survivors of doomed cruise Costa Concordia 30% off future cruise; outraged passengers prepare for lawsuit - NY Daily News

The corporate mentality again.


I would think that that vessel would be a lot easier to re-float and save than to try and haul out of there in pieces. Pumps and something better than a big oilskin bandage, I'd guess: (the big breach is for whatever reason, also conveniently-exposed.) And then, by the time you re-float her, you may as well take her to drydock.



(Also, Mike, I think some of the passengers were comparing their experiences to the *movie* 'Titanic,' rather than comparing disasters. )

[jolepp]

...
I would think that that vessel would be a lot easier to re-float and save than to try and haul out of there in pieces. Pumps and something better than a big oilskin bandage, I'd guess: (the big breach is for whatever reason, also conveniently-exposed.) And then, by the time you re-float her, you may as well take her to drydock. ...

The (aptly named? ) Herald of Free Enteprise was apparently salvaged by re-floating, but it then turned out that nobody wanted to buy the ship and it ended up scrapped. Costa Concordia is much larger though which makes salvage tougher (and prospective buyers scarcer? - I suppose the way it works is that the insurance company ends up in possession of the wreck so they'd need to find a buyer who wants to run it?)

[rawr]

All things considered, it was certainly a major disaster,, but it could have been a real nightmare.

There were 4000 people aboard, and yet so far there have only been a handful (or two) of fatalities - way less than 1%. It could certainly have been much, much worse.

[Docrwm]

There certainly are some amazing photos posted in this thread. As for who did what, didn't do what, and what it was like - Meh. That's what maritime courts are for. But the photos, many are just wow.

[debmalya]

Carnival offers survivors of doomed cruise Costa Concordia 30% off future cruise; outraged passengers prepare for lawsuit - NY Daily News

How about an additional 10% off on future cruises on Carnival when sailing with Capt. Schettino?

[Docrwm]

How about an additional 10% off on future cruises on Carnival when sailing with Capt. Schettino?

How many passengers will a dinghy hold anyway?