Costa Concordia Runs Aground / Deaths Reported

[luv2sleep]

This is what embassies and consulates are for, they provide you with new documents in case of emergency.
Most of the passengers were Italians, followed by Germans and people from France. If they went home by bus or trains (and I read something about people not finding the right busses), no problem - there aren't any passport controls between these countries.

I think she was American. Glad to know having a passport is not a must to get home.

 

[matrixband]

This is so awful. I am usually the one who is the most cautious and attentive to safety drills, but this really reinforces preparedness. When I get on a plane, I usually don't pay attention much to the attendant's demonstration, but I do check out the plane diagram in the seat back pocket. Every plane is different. I also count how many seats to the nearest exit door. So, I might suggest this:

1. Take the lifeboat drill seriously.

2. Imagine doing it with people panicking and maybe even in the dark. Yes, the power might go out.

3. Where are the stairs in relation to your room? How far away? How many doors down? What if it's pitch black? Could you get your family to the stairs or exit?

Of course, if you have a verandah, you may think just go out there, but like it was said above jumping into the water from a great height could cause injury and could very well lead to hypothermia if not drowning.

Otherwise, have a positive attitude--really-- as news like this can make you paranoid and not enjoy your trip..

Oh, one more thought especially to those who are wary about taking a cruise after this. You likely took more of a risk putting your family in a small metal tube and hurling them into the air on an airplane. In addition, you were in much much much more danger driving to the airport or cruise terminal in your car. Wear your seatbelt and pray, ---but life is to be lived to the fullest. I'm sailing in the summer!

 

[mimmi]

I think she was American. Glad to know having a passport is not must to get home.

In this case a passport is a must, the American consulate can provide emergency papers.

In a case like this, they will be alert anyway. They know what happened and that there fellow countrymen on board.

 

[sayhello]

I think she was American. Glad to know having a passport is not must to get home.

Nope, it just makes things easier and quicker. Lots of people lose their passports, or have them stolen. The embassies know how to deal with this.

I have a feeling a LOT of people off that ship did not grab their passports. They'll probably set up something special to expedite these folks getting new documentation.

Sayhello

 

[rosermama]

The account of what happened in this story is amazing, as one passenger said it was like the Titanic.

http://news.yahoo.com/ship-aground-off-italy-3-bodies-found-69-134340580.html

I just have to say as much as we might not care to do the evacuation drill I thank god that Disney is so concerned about safety. Many times I see them tell kids to stop running in the halls and this and that...

The thought that they didn't even do a drill is horrible, for anyone who thinks twice about going on a cruise after this should if they go on a cruise that doesn't even do safety drills.

"No one counted us, neither in the life boats nor on land," said Ophelie Gondelle, 28, a French military officer from Marseille. She said there had been no evacuation drill since she boarded in Marseille, France on Jan. 8.


http://news.yahoo.com/photos/coast-...rdia-leans-rocks-running-photo-101818984.html

 

[TotallyAngelic]

More news emerging via the BBC in the UK:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16560050

 

[Rogillio]

Angel Holgado, 50, a guitarist who had been performing when the ship foundered, said he got in a lifeboat but decided to abandon it after it became dangerously overcrowded.

"There was terrible panic and fear and I jumped into the water and swam to the shore," he said​

I can see me doing the same thing! So contrary to some initial assumptions, not all those that went into the water did so becuase they paniced! This sounds like a very rational decision and one that I too would make. No way am I just gonna sit in a lifeboat for 2 hrs waiting for it to be luanched.

I suppose this will hurt the cruise industry in the short term as people think about this accident but 10,000x more people die in car accidents every year than die in cruise ship accidents and yet we don't stop driving. Why? Becuase we think we are 'in control' on the road. We aren't in control of the drunk driver that t-bones you though. We also weigh the 'odds' as decide the chances are good that nothing bad is going to happen on our next trip to the grocery store. Likewise, the odds are tremendously in your favor that nothing is going to happen on your next cruise either.

 

[Octoberbride03]

One passenger reported she had left her passport in her room. She's not Italian. How is she going to be able to get home? What if you don't have your ID? How will an airline let you on a plane?

I know this might sound paranoid but does anyone else have second thoughts about cruising after this? I'm sure we will go on our trip but this news is very sobering in regards to the realities of a disaster at sea. I tend to Aldo not want to fly for a while after air disasters.

I am booked on deck 2. I know this is going to sound paranoid also but is it possible to get trapped in your stateroom in a situation like this when you are in a cabin on a lower deck on the ship?

She was at dinner. When I'm at dinner or on the ship in general my passport is locked in the room safe where it should be. No reason for her to think she'd be needing it at dinner.

And this does not make me have second thoughts about cruising. It just makes me wish for a different muster station on my next cruise. In Oct. our muster station was in Animator's Palate. For me the setup was confusing, I did not hear instructions clearly in there and was not my favorite place though the weather that day was horrible. i much prefer the outside muster stations where the instructions were more clearly heard. Fortunately this was my second drill so i remembered enough from the first 1 that all I really needed to know was which way to get to the lifeboat after AP.

 

[Disney Fool]

I just saw CNN's report 10 AM (EST) apparently, there are reports that the captain got off the ship BEFORE the rescue operations were completed. The Coast Guard is reporting that they were not even notified of the accident until 45 minutes AFTER it happened. And here's the worst: passengers are reporting that they were told by crew members to go back to their cabins and not try to evacuate!!!
This is a huge disaster - and the rescue divers are reporting that they think there are bodies in the hull of the ship--they are thinking that there are still people aboard who may have died and there are many unaccounted for.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

What a horrible accident. Best wishes to the survivors and condolences to the families who lost loved ones last night. T

This used to be my kids biggest fear when we started cruising and we have two cruises scheduled for this year.

I haven't seen this brought up yet, but one of my first thoughts after reading the articles this morning was the threads on here about those who get angry with the Captain for not docking at Castaway Cay.

This incident is a reminder that these ships can have accidents and even sink. If you miss a port, relax and enjoy your holiday.

JMHO

 

[clten]

This event is very tragic indeed. I hope that the 60+ people unaccounted for are among the many that were brought to safety and just not matched to a list yet.

I do hope that cruiselines learn from this tragedy. I have sailed on many cruises and while DCL may take safety seriously, I have long thought they don't convey that to their passengers during the drills. They do not pass on much safety information other than how to put on a life jacket (which is equivalent to the flight attendants showing you how to manage the seat belt, once you've done it a few times, you really don't need to watch). Then the lifeboat leaders turn it into a pre-sail away party. I don't want cheering and "we're cooler than the next station because we're louder". I have been on other ships where the announcements during muster drills are what will happen during an emergency and if the ship need to be abandoned (I think it was Princess that demonstrated the proper way to step off a sinking ship if you do need to jump into the water. Not something you want to think about at the start of a fun cruise. But certainly more helpful than reminders about show and meal times.)

Don't get me wrong, even after 26 DCL cruises, we always attend muster drills. And I realize that those around us may not be as familar with things as we are so we take it seriously. But most people are only going to get out of them a sense of where their meeting point is; and if that keeps someone from panicking at a time like Costa experienced, it is worth all the time I've spent on them.

 

[Octoberbride03]

Angel Holgado, 50, a guitarist who had been performing when the ship foundered, said he got in a lifeboat but decided to abandon it after it became dangerously overcrowded.

"There was terrible panic and fear and I jumped into the water and swam to the shore," he said​

I can see me doing the same thing! So contrary to some initial assumptions, not all those that went into the water did so becuase they paniced! This sounds like a very rational decision and one that I too would make. No way am I just gonna sit in a lifeboat for 2 hrs waiting for it to be luanched.

I suppose this will hurt the cruise industry in the short term as people think about this accident but 10,000x more people die in car accidents every year than die in cruise ship accidents and yet we don't stop driving. Why? Becuase we think we are 'in control' on the road. We aren't in control of the drunk driver that t-bones you though. We also weigh the 'odds' as decide the chances are good that nothing bad is going to happen on our next trip to the grocery store. Likewise, the odds are tremendously in your favor that nothing is going to happen on your next cruise either.

Extremely rational considering the ship ran aground in shallow waters and you have no idea just how deep the water is. So you're jumping in from how many stories up (Don't know about this ship but the Magic is 10 stories high)

Oh and don't forget about the currents. Is there a rip down there? How would you know if there was? Does the listing ship create 1? Don't know if that's even possible but if it does do you know how to swim in 1?

Are you jumping from the listing side or the non-listing?

As bad as this story is, the passengers waiting in the boats had a much better chance of surviving than this woman did. She got lucky. I guarantee you other jumpers did not. I am a decent swimmer myself, decent enough to know my chances are better in a lifeboat than jumping overboard. The I sincerely hope that the crew would not abandon its safety training as it appeared many of them did here.

 

[Rogillio]

Extremely rational considering the ship ran aground in shallow waters and you have no idea just how deep the water is. So you're jumping in from how many stories up (Don't know about this ship but the Magic is 10 stories high)

Oh and don't forget about the currents. Is there a rip down there? How would you know if there was? Does the listing ship create 1? Don't know if that's even possible but if it does do you know how to swim in 1?

Are you jumping from the listing side or the non-listing?

As bad as this story is, the passengers waiting in the boats had a much better chance of surviving than this woman did. She got lucky. I guarantee you other jumpers did not. I am a decent swimmer myself, decent enough to know my chances are better in a lifeboat than jumping overboard. The I sincerely hope that the crew would not abandon its safety training as it appeared many of them did here.

The water was about 60 feet deep. That fact that the the bow of ship was still in the water idicates the water is at least 40 feet deep. You have no idea how how she jumped from. Perhaps she went over to the listing side of the ship and simply stepped over the rail and stepped into the water. I would NOT sit in a life boat (for 2 hrs) waiting on the crew to figure out what to do. Putting your faith in the crew is what got you into this situation in the first place! I'm not sure how you can 'gaurentee' that other jumpers died. I suspect those that died were in the bottom of the ship and trapped in flooded compartment below deck. I will alway trust my own instincts in a crisis and not follow the sheep who are blindly following the rules. I will gladly give you my seat in the life boat where you can wait to be rescued....or sunk with the ship because of indicsion/ignorance on the part of the crew....like the crew members someone posted above who sent passengers back to their cabins. I read that most of the cruiser were Italian and most of the crew were Asians and did not speak Italian.

 

[rosermama]

To say unequivically that "jumping is not a good decision regardless" is simply ridiculous and might just get you killed. If a ship was on fire would you jump? If the ship felt like it was slipping off the sandbar, would you jump? I would. Maybe you would not and would be standing on the ship laughing at me while the ship sank and you drowned in the subsequent vortex. But I'd still come back and try to save you from downing and give you my life vest.....

You are right when you are in a situtation where you feel threatened in some way you still make rash decisions, your brain is on fast drive and your flight or fight kicks in and your mind makes the decision based on the current circumstances and its evaluation of all the options. Yes this happend in a split second and you make the choice which is right for you.

Do not judge people who made choices they felt were right for them at that moment until you have lived through a tragedy of your own.

And if you don't think it was that bad of a situtation (because the boat didn't fully sink):
"We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing," her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61 said. "We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls."

She choked up as she recounted the moment when an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship lurched to the side and the family found themselves standing on a wall. "He said 'take my baby,'" Mrs. Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand as she teared up. "I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn't want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn't hold her.

"I thought that was the end and I thought they should be with their baby," she said.

"I wonder where they are," daughter Valerie whispered.

 

[rosermama]

They were also being held from being able to evacuate the ship, this is absolutly unthinkable that in this day and age we would learn from history and learn it is better to be safe than sorry:

crew members for a good 45 minutes told passengers there was a simple "technical problem" that had caused the lights to go off.

crew members delayed lowering the lifeboats even thought the ship was listing badly, they said.

"We had to scream at the controllers to release the boats from the side," said Mike van Dijk, a 54-year-old from Pretoria, South Africa. "We were standing in the corridors and they weren't allowing us to get onto the boats. It was a scramble, an absolute scramble."

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

I pray for the families of those lost and that the count stays at three.

As do I, but I have a pit in my stomach learning that there are still about 69 people unaccounted for.

 

[AlohaDisney]

I remember reading on a thread about DCL not doing a muster drill until the 2nd day due to the Superbowl, and people talking about whether that will happen again this year. I wonder if DCL will take the precautions now and make sure they do the drill on the 1st night?

 

[sdlong329]

How sad. And to think this occured the 1st day of the cruise, during dinner. What a shock for the passengers.

What was most shocking to me, was that (supposedly), nobody had gone through the safety drill. At about the 1:00 mark on the video, the reporter indicated the incident happened at dinner time, first night of the cruise ... and went on to say, because it was the first night, NOBODY had gone through safety drill. W*T*F!? Is this because it is a European based ship?

Steven

 

[shanie17]

I remember reading on a thread about DCL not doing a muester drill until the 2nd day due to the Superbowl, and people talking about whether that will happen again this year. I wonder if DCL will take the precautions now and make sure they do the drill on the 1st night?

Im on the superbowl cruise on the Wonder and hoping they will do the drill on the first day.



We( the other people on my cruise and I ) have written to tell them that we want the schedule to stay the same(sail away party,drill etc) and are waiting to get a response telling us what they will be doing.

 

[mimmi]

What was most shocking to me, was that (supposedly), nobody had gone through the safety drill. At about the 1:00 mark on the video, the reporter indicated the incident happened at dinner time, first night of the cruise ... and went on to say, because it was the first night, NOBODY had gone through safety drill. W*T*F!? Is this because it is a European based ship?

Steven

No. It has been mentioned several times in this thread that Disney postponed the drill last year because of the superbowl.
Obviously the Safety drill has to performed within 24 hours after leaving port. Anywhere in the world.