Cruise Ship Sinks
Costa Cruises - Costa Concordia
Off The Coast Of Italy - January 13, 2012
The cruise ship Costa Concordia nightmare took place off the coast of Italy near Giglio on Friday the 13th of January, 2012 around 2100 hours. The latest cruise ship sinking is the most recent dramatic grounding incident after the cruise ship Sea Diamond sank off the coast of Greece on April 5, 2007, killing two French passengers. The death count is up to 8 aboard Costa Concordia, one from a heart attack after jumping into the icy cold waters. On Saturday, dozens were still unaccounted for.
The massive Costa Concordia struck rocks while sailing on a seven-day Mediterranean Cruise after sailing too close to the Italian coast with around 3,206 passengers and a crew of 1,023 aboard. Most of the passengers are reported to be from dozens of nations including thousands of Italians, several hundred Germans, a hundred and a half French, over 100 Americans, a couple dozen British, several dozen Ukrainians and a dozen Canadians.
Early photographs show the ship listing slightly a couple hundred meters off the coast, while later photographs show the ship complete;t on her side with jagged rocks hutting up all around her, an estimated 160-foot-rip in her hull.
Reports say the death toll would have been much higher if most passengers had been in their beds at night. Instead, it was supper time and many passengers were dressed and sitting down to eat when the ship came to a screeching halt and began to fill up with water.
Costa Concordia had just made an emergency stop for minor repairs in the port of Marseille, France when the ship grounded on a charted reef. The ship had left Civitavecchia sailing to Savona, Marseilles, Barcelona, Palma, Tunis, and Palermo. The officers and crew had sailed this course along the coast many times before.
Photographs show a large rock embedded in the hull of the ship as cruise ship lay on her side. (below)
Costa Concordia is owned by Costa Crociera one of the cruise lines owned by Carnival Corp. The 950-foot-long cruise ship was Christened July 7, 2006 with a capacity of 3,700 passengers and a crew of 1,100 aboard 13 decks.
As of Sunday January 15, dozens of passengers and crew were still being reported as missing. Local Fire chief Ennio Aquilino reported that his crew had rescued over 100 people from the sea and dozens from inside the Concordia. The rescued on Sunday included a couple from Korea on their honeymoon and the cruise ship's Purser who was trapped in a galley.
The individual case pages for those lost on Costa Concordia are here.
