Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy

5 more bodies found.

According to an Italian attorney on Fox over the weekend manslaughter charges are almost a certainty. In addition charges of criminal negligence and dereliction of duty are also likely. This guy is, rightfully, toast. He probably won't be able to captain a kiddy park water ride after he gets out of prison.

It looks like he's looking at twelve or more years in prison. The charges so far are multiple counts of manslaughter. I haven't seen the other charges yet, but most likely are forthcoming.

Hi,

Here is a bit from the BBC that shows 7 possible ways to remove the wreck.

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

Hi,

Whilst the cause may remain a mystery the end result is now certainly well known.

The Master and Navigation Officer have had the initial charges against them increased to include the falsification of documents.

Rena's crew charged with changing records - Yahoo! New Zealand News

It is also an unfortunate distraction that a Filipino Seafarers Association has pulled the race card as the reason the other crew were repatriated and the two are being charged.

The two crew who are still in NZ are not actually in jail they are being taken care of in the community by other Filipino families. If the race discrimination was as bad as the Association above says they would be safer in jail and the NZ Police would surely realise this and take steps to protect them.

I haven't lived in NZ for a while but think it is still a case of "innocent until proven guilty" not the other way like elsewhere in the world.

Interesting article but I'm guessing when all is said and done she will be scrapped.

This guy will go down as a legendary coward.

No honor. No dignity. A coward.

The crew and Coast Guard must have done an amazing job.
4200 passengers rescued in the dark without the captain to guide or help.
Hopefully, once the furore over this coward of a captain has died down, the attention will focus on the many who must have done heroic and amazing work to evacuate this amount of panicked people within a few hours.

From what I'm reading the crew wasn't much help and were running around in confusion, like the passengers, with nobody giving them instructions. Apparently this was not the captains first problem:
"NBC News is reporting that the captain had a history of disobeying orders. Schettino, according to Italian news reports, had once left Marseilles, France, in bad weather, against company policy and coast guard orders. The captain was also once reportedly caught sailing too close to the shore in another part of Italy."

Of course there were crew member who did a great job and safed many people but many had no expirience ... a german passenger reported that the crew was not able to maneuver the life boats, a passenger brought them to Goglio

After seeing the pictures of the Costa Concordia with its exposed hull torn open I am curious to know the strength of the hull ....How thick is the steel sections in the hulls of cruise ships ????

It really doesn't matter how thick the steel is. When you drive something that heavy over huge boulders, there are going to be holes.

Although there has been a lot of talk about the structural integrity and seaworthiness of these ships, it should be remembered that they do meet the international standards required for ocean going vessels of their class.

The specification they can't all be sure of meeting, is the one covering incompetent or foolhardy officers!

Here's a full transcript between the Captain and the Port Authority, first published by Corriere della Sera and confirmed by the Coast Guard.

Concerning Kevin's "full transcript between the Captain and the Port Authority, first published by Corriere della Sera and confirmed by the Coast Guard". There are 3 major points of interest IMHO:

Unless something almost inevitably "got lost in translation" between 2 Italian-speakers (the PA "Port Authority" and the Captain "Francesco Schettino"), I would question whether or not:

1) That "the best place" for anyone "coordinating the rescue efforts" (whether or not this was or should have been Captain Francesco Schettino) would be aboard the stricken vessel, presumably by this time already heeling to between 70-90° from the vertical?

2) If the Captain had indeed remained "aboard" for longer or at least "remained in the immediate vicinity of the ship" aboard say, a small "rescue boat", just what communications devices would he reasonably be expected to have had at his disposal under the circumstances, in order to communicate with other crew remaining aboard and/or the passengers, with the intention to "coordinate rescue efforts" with shore-based rescue centres?

3) In view of the PA (Port Authority) officer's declaration that "I'm in command...", sounds like stress and panic had already "kicked-in" with those attempting to coordinate the rescue efforts ashore?

The International media have apparently already put the blame for the disaster squarely on the shoulders of the Italian Master. And probably unfairly IMHO.

What lessons could be drawn in comparing the Costa Concordia to the RMS Titanic? The Titanic didn't carry enough lifeboats for all aboard (there were no inflatable liferafts available back then either), though they were able to launch a few from one side. In 2012, the Costa Concordia carried sufficient lifeboats for everyone aboard, but none could be launched when actually required, though they weren't really necessary as those who could swim could and did actually swim ashore. Presumably it will take SOLAS another 100 years to come up with a suitable solution to actually ensuring that lifeboats can readily be launched, regardless of how many lifeboats (or on which side) modern vessels are obliged to carry...?!

Oooops, I forgot something else. At least when the Titanic went down, the orchestra was still playing heroically. I've yet to see any reports that the musicians aboard the Costa Concordia appeased passengers with any renditions of Celine Dion, which would have been in very bad taste, much like my last paragraph. Apologies in advance to all concerned.

"The International media have apparently already put the blame for the disaster squarely on the shoulders of the Italian Master. And probably unfairly IMHO."

It s hard not place the blame on the captain when it is clear that he ordered the ship off course to make a close pass to the island just to please a few people. It s like if an airline pilot would take his jumbo off course to buzz a friends house.

The rest of the story is unclear at this point and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt about his actions during the evac. Maybe he felt he could better assist from a small boat than from tilted decks crowded with frantic passengers. Kind of playing devil s advocate here but it maybe too early to call him a coward. I don't know.

What is very unclear is how a state of the art almost new solar compliant ship can go down that quickly. Yes, it s a large breach but you d think that lessons from Titanic would have been learned and there would be enough watertight bulkheads and compartments so the ship could be evacd before rolling over.

I hope some information eventually comes out to explain this

While there is a lot yet to be learned in this case, I can't see how the blame for the disaster lays anywhere but on Schettino's shoulders. He was apparently on the bridge during the portion of the cruise leading up to the incident. His voice is heard on the PA giving reports of the failure of generators at a time when he probably should have been giving abandon ship orders. And, prior to ensuring that the passengers and crew, who were reasonably expecting to rely on his leadership during the crisis, he abandoned ship leaving them to fend for themselves.

I also find the comment of being "in control" by the Coast Guard officer to be interesting. Maybe just an Alexander Haig moment? But, with the Captain, who normally should be coordinating the rescue efforts having abandoned ship, the CG probably was the de facto scene commander. The panic I hear in the recording is in the background not on the radio. What I hear on the radio is anger. To Schettino: you've created this situation where people are dying and now you are running away from your responsibilities; get back there and help us save the passengers you've abandoned.

No one knows the ship better than the captain and crew. Making sure that all the people are off the vessel is the reason the captain traditionally goes down with the ship. A rescuer coming on the boat will have a much harder time clearing the vessel than will a person who lives on and intimately knows the ship.

Tragic. Stupid. Get all the facts. Then hang the *******.

Hog Wash! The captain's responsibility is to be the last one off his ship. Period! He, in theory, knows that ship better than any other person aboard. His presence on board will help to calm passengers at the very least. His authority can get people to where they need to be for the best chance of rescue. He can do neither from the safety of a life boat. The man is a coward. I think that most who have read my posts know that I always try to give the benefit of the doubt to the captain or trained professional, but he abdicated his responsibility and lost all benefit of doubt when he abandoned his ship with live passengers still aboard. No excuses! Coward! The man belongs in jail.

We don't know what state the rest of ship's hull is in yet or which compartments were actually breached. And in fairness to her designers and builders, she stayed afloat and almost upright long enough to get nearly all the passengers off.

And that is what safety design buys - time. Time to get people off and to safety in what ever way possible. If a ship is breached, then the designers must assume a worst case scenario, ie; she will be a total loss. Therefore, their focus must be upon keeping the vessel afloat long enough to get folk off quickly and safely.

With the deepest respect and compassion for those who have lost loved ones, I think the designers and builders can be proud of their work in allowing so many to be rescued.

As a Captain of only small yachts I fail to see how the blame can be put anywhere else. If I lay out a course for my boat that takes her onto submerged rocks it's my fault no matter who is actually at the wheel. From what I read Costa doesn't even allow their Captains to plot ship courses without corporate approval. Schettino deviated from the corporate approved course to amuse a crewman's family on shore and caused the loss of a half a billion dollar ship and 11 lives (as I write this). So, just who do you think should be blamed?