Cruise ship catastrophe off the coast of Italy

[Joshua_me]

Read this devastating quote this morning in the Winnipeg Free Press:

"Have you seen 'Titanic?' That's exactly what it was," said Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles who was travelling with her sister and parents on the first of two cruises around the Mediterranean. They all bore dark red bruises on their knees from the desperate crawl they endured along nearly vertical hallways and stairwells, trying to reach rescue boats.

"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.



I broke down in tears reading that to my mother this morning. Those poor people. My heart breaks for the survivors as the lost.

^ Do you still have the link to this article ?

I "looked around" the Winnipeg Free Press site, but couldn't find it.

Thanks.

 

[disneyholic family]

This is definitely not something I needed to see before going on my very first cruise (3.0).

Nikki, the following is a quote from the st. petersburg times, from 2002, when the disney magic had the funnel fire. It's from an interesting article written by someone who was on that cruise. At the final show of the cruise, the captain (Capt. Hans Mateboer) spoke about the fire.

At the final show that evening, Mateboer was given a standing ovation by the crowd. He explained exactly what had happened and why he had made the decisions that he did.

"I know there are those who said we did not need to evacuate the cabins. I know it was very stressful. But there were a lot of smoke alarms going off all over the ship and and I decided that everybody should be at their assembly stations and accounted for."

He then noted that while he had been in relative comfort on the bridge, "There were those out there fighting the fire who put their lives in danger," and he brought out on stage all 100 crew members who are also trained as firefighters. They received thunderous applause.

It was a great way to bring closure on an unfortunate incident. And I thought it showed class.


Nikki, i may have negative things to say about Disney Cruise Lines, but not about their dedication to safety. And you can be sure that as dedicated as they were to safety before the sinking of the concordia, they will certainly redouble their efforts in its wake. I would not hesitate for even a millisecond getting on board any of the disney ships!!

i don't know if you remember that fire on the magic...it was 10 years ago (god i'm old)....but i remember it very well (we were very much into DCL cruising at the time).....I was so impressed that the captain had put out a mayday call immediately so that the other cruise ships in the area came in close to be ready for the magic to abandon ship. There were pictures of it at the time. Pictures of the other 3 cruise ships surrounding the magic, at the ready in the event the worst came to pass.

And i remember there were many people on the magic who complained bitterly at the time that they'd had to stand out at the muster stations for such a long time - in formation - ready to board the lifeboats. But i think that all of them, in light of what happened this week, would agree that being held at the muster stations that way, in formation, ready to board was the right thing to do.

And i have to say, that at the time, when i read it, it was very very very reassuring to me that DCL was very well prepared for emergencies, with procedures in place, procedures that the crew knew how to follow.

DCL may be many things, but in safety i truly believe it's second to none.

 

[Joshua_me]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4715

^ A couple of first hand accounts through "Cruise Critic", a favorite site of mine.

Something tells me the coming week is going to reveal a LOT more about what actually happened.

 

[disneyholic family]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4715

^ A couple of first hand accounts through "Cruise Critic", a favorite site of mine.

Something tells me the coming week is going to reveal a LOT more about what actually happened.

she has a thread on the boards about her ordeal...(i love that forum too - i'm alaska_planner) -
did you see the post by a guy who was on another costa ship with an incident at sea...i don't think i'll be sailing costa anytime soon..

 

[disneyholic family]

this is an interesting review of the italian press -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16577739

Cruise ship captain 'off course'

Images of the capsized Costa Concordia dominate the front pages of Italian newspapers and news websites, which are full of reports of the disaster and its aftermath, including stories from passengers, crew and locals on the island of Giglio.

"Concordia, a night of errors and lies", is the headline in Rome's La Repubblica.

The paper speaks of the ship lying like a "beached whale" off the coast. It describes how local fishermen rushed into their boats to help passengers when it became clear that the ship was in distress.

"Italy owes to the world, to international public opinion, to the families of those who lost their lives or were injured... a convincing explanation and harsh punishments for those responsible for this tragedy," says an editorial in best-selling daily Corriere Della Sera.

"The captain's position worsens: he did not raise the alarm and refused to go back on board," says the headline in Turin's La Stampa. Among the distressing stories it carries is that of Claudio Masi, who struggled to get his children, wife and mother onto lifeboats, but was unable to go back for his 85-year-old father, who was later found among the dead.

Many papers hail the ship's chief purser, Manrico Gianpetroni, as one of the heroes of the hour. Mr Gianpetroni, who was rescued from deep inside the vessel 36 hours after its hull was ripped open by rocks, is credited with helping dozens of people to safety before breaking his leg in a fall.

The daily Il Giornale brands the disaster a "global embarrassment" for Italy, but other papers report on growing anger among the ship's crew at attempts in the media to portray them as incompetent.

"We evacuated 4,000 people from a ship lying on its side in the dark, in less than two hours! Incompetent people would not have been able to do that," Katia Keyvanian, a hostess on the ship, is quoted as saying.

"Anguish over those still missing" is the focus for Rome's Il Messaggero. In an update, the paper's website reports that rescue operations have been suspended as rough weather makes the vessel slip into deeper water.

 

[204charity]

^ Do you still have the link to this article ?

I "looked around" the Winnipeg Free Press site, but couldn't find it.

Thanks.

No, I have searched myself again and couldn't find the original quote so I copied this quote from another forum I have an account on from earlier in the day. I will try and look today and see if I can find the quote anywhere. Could have been pulled from an Associated Press article, the WFP posts alot of their content as well. Either way, I'll get back to you asap!

Searched the woman's name in Google and came back with quite a few quotes/interviews with this woman. Here is a link to one of them, nearly identical to the excerpt I posted earlier:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/14/international/i135648S38.DTL

And here is another interview she did in regards to the lack of leadership on the cruise ship during the ordeal:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46014255

 

[k5jm]

...DCL may be many things, but in safety i truly believe it's second to none.

After seeing the pics from the funnel fire, I agree he did the right thing!!

 

[k5jm]

The size of the rock is amazing!

 

[lugnut33]

Any good reason why the ship was close to shore? Did it hit and then float in near the shore, or did they really steer it that close?

 

[mikelan6]

Any good reason why the ship was close to shore? Did it hit and then float in near the shore, or did they really steer it that close?

Reports are that the Captain wanted to "show off" the ship to people on the island.

 

[lugnut33]

Reports are that the Captain wanted to "show off" the ship to people on the island.

Was the Captain's name Homer Simpson?


Dohhhhhhhh

 

[disneyholic family]

Reports are that the Captain wanted to "show off" the ship to people on the island.

yes, i believe he's admitted to wanting to do a 'sail by' of the island...
what an idiot....and then to not have people go to their assembly stations immediately...
i'd like to know what the captain's blood alcohol level was when he made all of his brilliant decisions...

did you hear about the missing italian father and daughter?
she's 5 years old and was traveling with her father and his girlfriend..
the girlfriend got off safely, but the father and daughter are missing..
i'm guessing that maybe the daughter was in the children's area and the father went to find her when they finally got the order to get to their muster stations...who knows what happened to them....
there was an expert on saying that the people who had just boarded the ship most likely wouldn't have been familiar enough with the ship at that point to even get back to their rooms....(since some people had boarded only a few hours before the ship ran aground)...and even more certainly, wouldn't know where their muster stations were...

on sky news this morning they said that the divers have the room numbers of the missing passengers and that when they've gone to some of those rooms, the rooms are crushed so they can't get into them....

 

[Joshua_me]

No, I have searched myself again and couldn't find the original quote so I copied this quote from another forum I have an account on from earlier in the day. I will try and look today and see if I can find the quote anywhere. Could have been pulled from an Associated Press article, the WFP posts alot of their content as well. Either way, I'll get back to you asap!

Searched the woman's name in Google and came back with quite a few quotes/interviews with this woman. Here is a link to one of them, nearly identical to the excerpt I posted earlier:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/14/international/i135648S38.DTL

And here is another interview she did in regards to the lack of leadership on the cruise ship during the ordeal:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46014255

Well, goodness !

Thank you for all of your efforts, they are much appreciated.

No need to keep looking, though, there are plenty of other accounts coming in - as you said, it was probably an AP article that was pulled down.

Thanks again for all your help !

 

[Joshua_me]

she has a thread on the boards about her ordeal...(i love that forum too - i'm alaska_planner) -
did you see the post by a guy who was on another costa ship with an incident at sea...i don't think i'll be sailing costa anytime soon..

^ No, I haven't read his post yet....

As for sailing with Costa, I'd do it without a second thought.

Something tells me there are going to be running the "tightest ships" around for a long time to come...

The accident appears, at this point, to be the fault of the Captain's, (unless Carnival, who owns the line) has decided to "throw him under the bus" and there really were problems with the navigation systems.

Although, in the light of day when you see just how CLOSE they were to the rocky shore, ( 300 feet ! ) it's difficult to imagine that the entire navigational crew allowed this to happen.

Something doesn't quite add up just yet.

 

[204charity]

yes, i believe he's admitted to wanting to do a 'sail by' of the island...
what an idiot....and then to not have people go to their assembly stations immediately...
i'd like to know what the captain's blood alcohol level was when he made all of his brilliant decisions...

did you hear about the missing italian father and daughter?
she's 5 years old and was traveling with her father and his girlfriend..
the girlfriend got off safely, but the father and daughter are missing..
i'm guessing that maybe the daughter was in the children's area and the father went to find her when they finally got the order to get to their muster stations...who knows what happened to them....
there was an expert on saying that the people who had just boarded the ship most likely wouldn't have been familiar enough with the ship at that point to even get back to their rooms....(since some people had boarded only a few hours before the ship ran aground)...and even more certainly, wouldn't know where their muster stations were...

on sky news this morning they said that the divers have the room numbers of the missing passengers and that when they've gone to some of those rooms, the rooms are crushed so they can't get into them....

Oh my God.

 

[mommy2allgirls]

This makes me sad. I can't imagine what they all went through

 

[auroralark]

Here is an article of survivor stories. Some of them brought tears to my eyes. I can't even imagine what horror these people went through.

 

[dpic]

Any good reason why the ship was close to shore? Did it hit and then float in near the shore, or did they really steer it that close?

The £400million liner, with 4,200 passengers and crew, was sailing just 300 yards from the island’s rocky coast when it should have been at least four miles out to sea. It came to grief on Friday night after sustaining a 160ft gash in the port-side hull...The stunt – as passengers were enjoying dinner at 9.30pm on Friday – was apparently also a favour for the ship’s maître d’ Antonello Tievoli, who lives on the island.

Italian news reports said that that minutes before the Concordia crashed into an underwater reef just two hours into a seven-day Mediterranean cruise, Schettino told the head waiter: ‘Come and look, we are passing over your Giglio.’

After his rescue, Tievoli is understood to have joked: ‘I never thought I would get dropped off at home.’
His 82-year-old father Giuseppe said his son had phoned him before the accident to say the crew would salute him by blowing the ship’s whistle as they passed by.
He said: ‘Antonello called and said that we should look out of the window at around 9.30pm because he would be on the ship and it would pass right by Giglio. All the ships do it but they never come that close – I was at the window with my wife and, as he said, the ship went past.’

Tievoli’s sister Patrizia, a teacher on the island, made a Facebook post 30 minutes before the disaster saying: ‘Shortly, the Costa Concordia will pass really, really close, a big hello to my brother who will disembark at Savona and finally get to enjoy some holiday.’

​

Link
​

 

[dpic]

Here are details of the cowardliness of the captain. The man should spend a long time in jail.

The latest claims follow the publication of transcripts of several heated conversations between coastguards and Schettino, which purportedly took place on Friday night. The first call to the boat took place at 9.49pm, where the coastguard asked what the situation was. The boat had run aground some 30 minutes before.

They did not speak again until 0.42am, when Schettino was asked how many people were on board. He replied '40'. The coastguard, surprised, asked how there were so few people left on board, and Schettino replied: 'I'm not on board because we have abandoned the ship.'

The coastguard asked him to return to the ship to co-ordinate the evacuation. At 1.46am, Schettino received another call. The speaker said: 'You will return to the boat immediately. You have to tell me how many passengers are left.'

Confusingly, the captain replied: 'I'm on board, but I'm here.' The coastguard, who Italian media says understood he had no intention of returning, issued an ultimatum. He said: 'Captain, this is an order. I am in charge now. There are dead bodies.'

After swiftly escaping from the listing liner, Schettino – the Concordia’s skipper for six years – was arrested along with first officer Ciro Ambrosio.
The captain was spotted wrapped in a blanket on his way to the shore at around 11.30pm – more than four hours before the evacuation of the vessel was completed - and breaking the maritime tradition of remaining with his ship. One Italian report said he hailed a taxi and said to the driver: ‘Get me as far away from here as possible’.

Link

 

[disneyholic family]

here's another one from sky...absolutely horrifying to think about how those people died...the last time the 5 year old and her father were seen, they were clinging to a rope....and the man who gave his wife his lifevest and died...and the bride and the young peruvian crew member, and on and on and on and on.....so sad.....
that captain should get a lot more than 15 years for what he's done!!!!

Concordia Disaster: Five More Bodies Found

2:42pm UK, Tuesday January 17, 2012

The Italian coast guard has said five more bodies have been found inside the capsized Costa Concordia - taking the total number of dead to 11.

The bodies of four men and one woman in their 50s and 60s, all wearing lifejackets, were found together below the water line at the front of the ship.

Authorities said that 29 people are still not accounted for, including 14 German tourists.

Rescuers are also searching for six Italians, four French citizens, two Americans and three people from Peru, India and Hungary.

Four of those missing are crew members and the rest are passengers.

Search teams have been using explosives to blast holes in the half-submerged cruise ship but time is running out in the search for survivors.

Following the evacuation of the vessel on Friday night, US authorities have been appealing for information about a couple from Minnesota.

Jerry and Barbara Heil, from White Bear Lake, were on a 16-day once-in-a-lifetime holiday.
The couple, aged 69 and 70, are devout Catholics who spend much of their time volunteering at their local church.
Fox News reports that their daughter Sarah Heil told WBBM radio in Chicago they had been looking forward to their trip.
"They raised four kids and sent them all to private school, elementary to college, so they never had any money," Sarah Heil said.
"So when they retired, they went travelling. And this was to be a big deal - a 16-day trip. They were really excited about it."

A Peruvian crew member listed as missing has been named as tourism student Erika Soria.
The 26-year-old's father Saturnino told Peruvian TV: "My concern is that the authorities intensify their search and find my daughter wherever she is.
"She has to be found, dead or alive. The pain of not knowing what's happened to her is killing us. I haven't given up hope of seeing her alive again."

Italian Maria D'Introno, 30, had boarded the ship along with her new husband Vincenzo Rosselli, 40, and several members of their families to celebrate both their marriage and also a 50th wedding anniversary.
All apart from Ms D'Introno reached the safety of the shore by jumping into the water and swimming to a nearby headland while wearing life jackets.
She has not been seen since Friday night.

Besides the honeymooning bride, five-year-old Dyana Arlotti and her father William from the Italian seaside resort of Rimini are also missing - they were last seen clutching onto a rope as Friday's chaotic evacuation took place.

And the widow of a Frenchman who died in the ship has described how her husband sacrificed himself by giving her the only life jacket they had.
Nicole Servel, 61, said that as she jumped into the icy waters off the coast of Tuscany, her husband Francis shouted to her not to worry and that he would be all right.
His body was later found in the wreckage.
Mrs Servel said: "I owe my life to my husband. He said to me 'jump, jump'. And as I don't know how to swim, he gave me his life jacket."

The ship's captain Francesco Schettino, 52, has been in custody since Saturday on suspicion of multiple manslaughter and abandoning the Concordia when dozens of passengers were still onboard and had not been safely evacuated.
He faces a maximum of 15 years in jail if convicted.