At least 3 dead after Costa Concordia ran aground off Italy

[Ned]

At least three people were killed when the Costa Concordia ran aground on a sand bank near the Italian island of Giglio, Friday night.



The grounding occurred during dinnertime, according to witnesses. The ship was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members at the time, according to the cruise line's blog.

Initial reports suggested as many as six people had been killed, but it was unclear why the number dropped. An additional 14 people have been report to be injured.

The civil protection agency in the town of Grosseto, the provincial capital, said the emergency operation was still ongoing and as parts of the ship are underwater, the death and injured toll could rise.

The coast guard is using three helicopters to rescue remaining passengers from the ship, which pictures show leaning heavily to one side.

According to Costa, evacuation efforts started promptly but were made "extremely difficult" by the position of the ship. Some passengers fell into the chilly waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea during the rescue.

Passengers said the lights went out and it was clear the ship hit something.

Passengers and crew rushed to the lifeboats as the ship quickly leaned to one side, and found access to some hampered by the ship's tilt into the water, which added to the confusion of the moment.

Many rescued in the early hours were taken to small churches and other buildings around the island for shelter.

This is an ongoing story as the rescue continues as I write this. There are still passengers and crew unaccounted for. Hopefully they will be found safe.

[Ned]

Here is a new photo of the Costa Concordia. You can see that the entire starboard side of the ship is under water. It would seem that the ship is now in danger of capsizing.

[Ned]

CNN now reports that between 50 and 70 people are unaccounted for and feared missing, still in the ship or in the water.

[TPARick]

Fabio Costa, who worked in a shop on the stricken cruise ship, said a number of people were jumping into the sea to swim ashore.
Describing the moment the boat began to list, he told the BBC: "All of a sudden we felt the boat hitting something and everything just started to fall, all the glasses broke and everybody started to panic and run.

"We could only feel that the boat had hit something, we had no idea how serious it was until we got out and we looked through the window and we saw the water getting closer and closer.

"Everything happened really, really fast and we saw the water coming in."
Mr Costa said that once the emergency alarm was set off people started to panic and push each other in a bid to get into lifeboats.
"A lot of people were falling down the stairs and were hurt because things fell on them," he added.

The worker said it took the crew a long time to launch the lifeboats as the vessel had listed so much.
He said: "We just saw a huge rock, that was probably where the ship hit, and people were having huge trouble trying to get on the lifeboats. So at that point we didn't know what to do so it took hours for people to get off the ship.

"It was easier for people to jump into the sea because we were on the same level as that water so some people pretty much just decided to swim as they were not able to get on the lifeboats."

Pictures showed a massive gash in the hull more than 150ft long, with a huge rock embedded in the side of the ship towards the stern.

Helicopters airlifted to safety around 50 people who were trapped on board.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-of-Italy.html

[TPARick]

[AaronK]

Apparently, it has been reported that at the time of the accident, the muster drill had NOT yet occurred.

[bodega]

Originally Posted by AaronK

Apparently, it has been reported that at the time of the accident, the muster drill had NOT yet occurred.

International Law and US Coast Guard, too, only require these drills within 24 hours of the start of a cruise.

On a past cruise, I watched the crew go through their own muster practice with the ship in normal position. Now all this makes me wonder if they ever practice for situations where the ship is not in an upward state. I read earlier today that since the ship was listing, 50% of the lifeboats were unreachable and with the listing, getting into the lifeboats on the other side was very difficult. The crew was not well versed in dealing with a situation like this. Maybe they need to do onland mock up drills like the airlines do.

[Ned]

I have spoken to captains of several ships I've been on in the Celebrity and Regent cruise lines and the crew does practice what to do in case of various situations requiring a change in what lifeboats are used.

In fact, the point of sending passengers to "muster stations" instead of directly to the lifeboats, is part of the abandon ship procedure which takes into account potential fires, closed water tight doors preventing passageway access, listing, etc.

As you know, once at the "muster station" the crew gets instructions where to take the passengers in their charge, and how. If the ship is listing, and access to some lifeboats becomes impossible, this is taken into account at the muster stations.

On every cruise I've been on, we have completed the life boat drill before getting underway on the first day of the cruise. This ensures each passenger understands the procedures they must follow.

On a recent Regent cruise, we were to be on the ship overnight at the dock, before leaving Istanbul. We did our life boat drill that first day, even though we weren't going to be at sea until the following day.

[bodega]

It sounds like it was chaos on board that ship when the accident occured. I am not sure crews are really well trained for emergency evacuations such as what happened on this one. 50% of the lifeboats couldn't be used, getting into the ones that were available from comment made by passengers was very difficult. This stupid act by the Captain will cost the cruise line a pretty penny.

[jimtbay]

Originally Posted by bodega

It sounds like it was chaos on board that ship when the accident occured. I am not sure crews are really well trained for emergency evacuations such as what happened on this one. 50% of the lifeboats couldn't be used, getting into the ones that were available from comment made by passengers was very difficult. This stupid act by the Captain will cost the cruise line a pretty penny.

Worse, he caused people to die with his actions. Sad day.