Costa Concordia Runs Aground / Deaths Reported

[Rogillio]

Tonka, why do you think the ship did not roll on over? Seems to me the ships are top-heavy and once they start to roll, they will keep going till they are completely upside down, right?

 

[pxlbarrel]

Tonka, why do you think the ship did not roll on over? Seems to me the ships are top-heavy and once they start to roll, they will keep going till they are completely upside down, right?

It's completely grounded. It's sitting on the sea floor already.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I have not seen any (photographic) evidence that they deployed any of the rafts. Since the shore was only a short distance, perhaps the boats made multiple trips?

1. The liferafts(contained in a water tight plastic drum) are deployed by tossing them overboard.

2. If they are not tossed overboard......they are tied to a storage cradle with a line and the depth switch.........which when the liferaft is under water the switch releases container and it floats toward/to the surface...when the line is tight...........it pulls a valve on the canister of air which inflats the raft.

3. I suggest you go back and look at more pictures..I saw at least 3 photos with the rafts inflated.


AKK

 

[kaseyC]

I read elsewhere, and hope that it's a true fact, that the lifeboats on just ONE side of the ship are enough to hold the capacity of all on board.

Looking through earlier pictures though, it does appear that the lifeboats on the side that listed were successfully launched before she rolled.

Here are many more pictures by what appears to be a resident in the town where this happened.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3022776696787.155454.1483816924&type=3

So tragic, my prayers are definitely with those families. What a scary and horrible ordeal to have gone through.

I have not seen any (photographic) evidence that they deployed any of the rafts. Since the shore was only a short distance, perhaps the boats made multiple trips?

The link in the quote above has photos of the rafts at the town's dock with the life boats. There are also a few pictures that show a few rafts stuck to the side of the ship.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I have not seen any (photographic) evidence that they deployed any of the rafts. Since the shore was only a short distance, perhaps the boats made multiple trips?

1. The liferafts(contained in a water tight plastic drum) are deployed by tossing them overboard.

2. If they are not tossed overboard......they are tied to a storage cradle with a line and the depth switch.........which when the liferaft is under water the switch releases container and it floats toward/to the surface...when the line is tight...........it pulls a valve on the canister of air which inflats the raft.

3. I suggest you go back and look at more pictures..I saw at least 3 photos with the rafts inflated.


AKK

 

[disneydreamfan14]

Question...

What are they going to do with the ship? Just let it sit in the water forever??

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Tonka, why do you think the ship did not roll on over? Seems to me the ships are top-heavy and once they start to roll, they will keep going till they are completely upside down, right?

WRONG.........if they were totally top heavy they would roll over at the dock

and what difference would it make.the lifts will float up whether the ship was uopside down or not!

Please look at the floats..shes is hard aground now.shes not rolling any more!


lastly,, I am glad your all knowledgeable..you talked or saw everyone getting off the ship and those swimming and know the lifevests in no way helped any of them!


AKK

 

[Rogillio]

WRONG.........if they were totally top heavy they would roll over at the dock

and what difference would it make.the lifts will float up whether the ship was uopside down or not!

Please look at the floats..shes is hard aground now.shes not rolling any more!


lastly,, I am glad your all knowledgeable..you talked or saw everyone getting off the ship and those swimming and know the lifevests in no way helped any of them!


AKK

No need to get nasty. I was just asking a question about why she didn't roll and would she normally roll if she listed far enough.

I said of the lifevests "best I can tell" so there is no reason for your sarcasm that I am "all knowledgeble". Chill out.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Ironically, it does not appear that donning a lifevest saved anyone. Best I can tell, only those who voluntarily jumped in and made a swim for it actually got wet. Not saying people don't need to know where the vests are - although that is pretty obvious the first time you open you closet.

Knowing how to 'put the vest on' seems kind of strange to me but I suppose there are people in the world who have never seen a life vest....just like people who might not know how to operate a seatbelt on an airplane.

Hmmmm..... that's pretty ... ummm... presumptious to think that everybody on a cruise ship knows about lifevests and where to find them.

I'd hazard to guess that participants in this online board are not the norm when it comes to planning one's vacations. Not everybody researches everything to the nth degree that we do. And guess what ... I'd probably be able to say in certain that not everybody has put on a life vest before. Cars are more common in the world than cruise ships. While everybody may have ridden in a car and put a seat belt on, not everybody has had to put a life vest on. And while I have had the pleasure of doing so before my first cruise, not all vests are the same AND it's a welcome reminder that the vests are on the top shelf of the closet (yes, maybe it's obvious that it's there but how many people actually pay attention if they don't have to). And to make sure the required vests are there .... (enough adult, child or infant vests for the cabin).

Odd that if they don't have the drill, people will complain and if they do have the drill, people will complain.

 

[Rogillio]

The link in the quote above has photos of the rafts at the town's dock with the life boats. There are also a few pictures that show a few rafts stuck to the side of the ship.

Thanks. I saw that yesterday but I guess it just didn't register that those orange things were life rafts from the ship. Looks like there are a few of them. Hardly seems sufficient to carry a significant amount of the 4,000 people.

 

[Rogillio]

Hmmmm..... that's pretty ... ummm... presumptious to think that everybody on a cruise ship knows about lifevests and where to find them.
I'd hazard to guess that participants in this online board are not the norm when it comes to planning one's vacations. Not everybody researches everything to the nth degree that we do. And guess what ... I'd probably be able to say in certain that not everybody has put on a life vest before. Cars are more common in the world than cruise ships. While everybody may have ridden in a car and put a seat belt on, not everybody has had to put a life vest on. And while I have had the pleasure of doing so before my first cruise, not all vests are the same AND it's a welcome reminder that the vests are on the top shelf of the closet (yes, maybe it's obvious that it's there but how many people actually pay attention if they don't have to). And to make sure the required vests are there .... (enough adult, child or infant vests for the cabin).

Odd that if they don't have the drill, people will complain and if they do have the drill, people will complain.

I'm sorry but how is waht I wrote presumptuous, "Knowing how to 'put the vest on' seems kind of strange to me but I suppose there are people in the world who have never seen a life vest."


RE the right sized vests. On one of our cruises we had 3 adult and 1 infant vests in a room where we had 4 adults. I told them this at the muster drill and they said they would change that out. They never did. If I put any stock in life vests, I'd of followed up and made sure I had the right mix of sizes for our room. IMO, that is the one benefit of 'wearing you vest to the muster drill' that they lost when they stopped requiring this.

 

[justmestace]

I'm sorry but how is waht I wrote presumptuous, "Knowing how to 'put the vest on' seems kind of strange to me but I suppose there are people in the world who have never seen a life vest."


RE the right sized vests. On one of our cruises we had 3 adult and 1 infant vests in a room where we had 4 adults. I told them this at the muster drill and they said they would change that out. They never did. If I put any stock in life vests, I'd of followed up and made sure I had the right mix of sizes for our room. IMO, that is the one benefit of 'wearing you vest to the muster drill' that they lost when they stopped requiring this.

I agree. On other cruise lines, we didn't have to wear the life vest to the drill, but we at least had to bring them and practice putting them on. I've seen PLENTY of people who had no idea how.....and they should learn.

I think it's sad to see how many people there are, who go to the lifeboat drill, and want to talk and goof around throughout. Or who bring their drinks with them and are angry when the CM's take it away.
On the whole, I don't think most people pay enough attention to the drill, and even if they do, it's probably darn hard to remember the right thing to do in an emergency....and what are the odds that if something DID happen, you'd be in your room and be able to grab your life vest, anyway?
But some small knowlege is better than none.

 

[Rogillio]

I agree. On other cruise lines, we didn't have to wear the life vest to the drill, but we at least had to bring them and practice putting them on. I've seen PLENTY of people who had no idea how.....and they should learn.

I think it's sad to see how many people there are, who go to the lifeboat drill, and want to talk and goof around throughout. Or who bring their drinks with them and are angry when the CM's take it away.
On the whole, I don't think most people pay enough attention to the drill, and even if they do, it's probably darn hard to remember the right thing to do in an emergency....and what are the odds that if something DID happen, you'd be in your room and be able to grab your life vest, anyway?
But some small knowlege is better than none.

If you were on the boat deck when the accident occured, would you go back into the ship to retrieve your vest? I think that is what the emergency procedure calls for is it not? This seems kind of odd to me. I mean, it's ok for a muster drill when they start telling you an hour before the drill that there will be a drill. But in a real emergency where the ship is filling with water, I'd not be inclinded to go up to Deck 8 or down to deck 2 to get my life vest. I'm thinking some of the rooms on the listing side of the ship would soon be taking on water.

Just a thought.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

as I read through these posts, I thought of a few things I read in the news that had not been mentioned here and people might be interested in:

-under their law they can detain people solely for the purpose of investigation

-they have obtained the "black Box". There was a picture of them taking it down yesterday. Though I am sure it will be some time before we hear what they have found out from it.

- two passengers interviewed place the captain in the lifeboat with them, abandoning ship. It will be interesting to see how this plays out versus his claim of not leaving the ship before all passengers.

not sure if this was mentioned, but did any one else see the huge rock in the gash - wow.

so sad all around, but so thankful it was not much worse!

 

[justmestace]

If you were on the boat deck when the accident occured, would you go back into the ship to retrieve your vest? I think that is what the emergency procedure calls for is it not? This seems kind of odd to me. I mean, it's ok for a muster drill when they start telling you an hour before the drill that there will be a drill. But in a real emergency where the ship is filling with water, I'd not be inclinded to go up to Deck 8 or down to deck 2 to get my life vest. I'm thinking some of the rooms on the listing side of the ship would soon be taking on water.

Just a thought.

Nope, I wouldn't go back for it. I'd head straight for the nearest lifeboat station...I doubt if I'd be able to remember which one was really MY station, and I doubt anyone else would either. The one comfort is that there are extra life jackets near the lifeboats. I also wouldn't worry too much about having a life jacket, if I were able to get to a life boat. That's just me, though.

I looked at the pictures of that ship, and tried to figure out what I'd do if I were in various locations onboard. I read about the people having to crawl down the hallways because of the tilting. It's horrifying, and I am betting that, as many times as we've cruised and taken other boat trips, I'd still panic like an idiot.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Ironically, it does not appear that donning a lifevest saved anyone. Best I can tell, only those who voluntarily jumped in and made a swim for it actually got wet. Not saying people don't need to know where the vests are - although that is pretty obvious the first time you open you closet.

Wow. How can you be so sarcastic? Can you tell from media photos how many people got wet?
In this case, the ship was close to shore. If it's an easy swim then that's great but even the best swimmer can fatigue if they're in the water long enough. Accidents don't always occur so close to land. What if some swimmers became injured swimming close to the rocks? It's very possible since the lifeboats were hitting rocks as well. Did their lifevest not help them then? I suppose you know for a fact that all the lifevests on the ship were worthless?

 

[slg]

I have never worried about shipwrecks while cruising...it just never seemed to happen.

Now I think I will worry about it. I hope I forget about it by the time I cruise in July.

On our dream cruise this December, the drill was a disaster, there were too many people in the theatre, we couldn't hear the cm on stage. I hated it.

The next day we heard that there was another drill for cm, so perhaps they didn't do a good job.

I always thought the drills on the magic and wonder were well done, but I can't understand why we don't have to wear our lifejackets anymore? I'm going to practice putting them on on our next cruise.

Hopefully, all cruiselines will learn from this disaster so something like this doesn't happen again!

 

[Rogillio]

Wow. How can you be so sarcastic? Can you tell from media photos how many people got wet?
In this case, the ship was close to shore. If it's an easy swim then that's great but even the best swimmer can fatigue if they're in the water long enough. Accidents don't always occur so close to land. What if some swimmers became injured swimming close to the rocks? It's very possible since the lifeboats were hitting rocks as well. Did their lifevest not help them then? I suppose you know for a fact that all the lifevests on the ship were worthless?

Now who is being sarcastic?

What part of "best I can tell...." did you not understand?!

I have yet to hear of anyone drowning becasue they did not have a life vest on. Maybe there will be a case that comes out where someone drowned becasue they did not have on a lifevest but I doubt it.

 

[Florida Dreamin']

This is just a prime example that it should be implemented that you have to be shown and put on a life vest before entering any seafaring vessel.

 

[Seahunt]

Re the muster drill, need to keep this in mind for this particular ship:

Miriam Vitale, a hostess on the cruise liner who disembarked earlier this week in Palermo, told SkyTG24 the ship conducts a drill every 15 days. She said that since passengers on the Concordia embark or disembark every day, some passengers could miss it depending on which day they begin the trip.



So if you were new to cruising and who just embarked, you probably wouldn't have a clue about what to do in an emergency.

I swear I will never complain about a muster again.