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Latest News on Costa Concordia Accident, the cruise ship sank near Italy (AIS data replay video)
About the history of events leading to the Concordia tragedy and the latest news on Costa Concordia disaster. The Costa cruise ship Costa Concordia sunk on the evening of Friday 13th (this combination again), off the Tuscan West Coast of Italy near the island of Giglio. The Costa Concordia sinking is a tragedy - lost lives, huge financial losses, and also as a major cruise ship safety issue. The Concordia ship general specifications: gross tonnage 114,500 tons, length 952 ft (290 m), max passenger capacity 3,780 guests and 1,100 staff and crew, maiden voyage July 14th 2006. Its owner - the Costa Cruceros brand, is a subsidiary of the largest cruise ship company in the world - Carnival Corporation & PLC. The Europe's cheapest passenger cruise ship travel operator, Costa cruise company operates predominantly in the Mediterranean with a fleet of 15 big cruise ships.
The hour of the Costa Concordia tragedy was 22:00 local time (UTC+1), 2 hours after the ship cruise had begun from Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) on a 8-day round-trip itinerary, scheduled to visit Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Caligari and Palermo.
Above video is based on historical AIS data provided by VesselFinder.com
As witnesses report "it all started with a loud bang, the huge ship shuddered to a halt, plunged into darkness". This was the beginning of the 2 long hours of panic. It must have been a Titanic-like experience for all the 3200 passengers and 1000 crew members on board the unfortunate ship when she starts to sink. News teams reported some of the passengers jumped overboard and swam to shore as the vessel took on a 20-30 degree list to starboard presenting a real danger of sinking. As to nationality, most of the passengers were Italians (990), 570 Germans, 460 French, 130 US citizens. Now the Concordia cruise ship is capsized, resting against a small breakwater.
The Money talks. One of the most expensive cruise ships in the world, the Costa Concordia cost to build is US $570 million (euro 450 million), and the sunken Costa cruise liner could become "the biggest insured loss in maritime history". The vessel was insured for US $513 million (euro 405 mill), the list of insurers includes XL, RSA, Generali, Allianz. Experts expect the insurance loss from the ship to be between US $500 million and $1 billion. While these numbers are big enough, they could grow even bigger if over 2,000 tons of fuel on the ship start to leak - in such a case a substantial pollution liability claim would be issued. This possibility was the reason the Carnival Corp shares to plummet by 18% on the London Stock Exchange. Carnival officials said the Costa Concordia sinking could cost the company around US $95 million (euro 75 million). Carnival has not yet contracted any firm for removing of the wreckage of the Concordia.
Last Update: January 26th
The known death toll is now 16, 63 people are badly injured (of which 3 seriously) and 17 are still missing (including 2 Americans from Minnesota), though the chances of finding some of them alive are extremely dim. The sunken Concordia may have had unregistered passengers on board, as well.
Today (Thursday) started the fuel-pumping preparations in tandem with the search and rescue operations as divers continue to blast holes inside the sunken ship to ease access for all the crews still searching the submerged parts for the missing. Workers of the contractor for the fuel-extracting (the Dutch shipwreck salvage firm SMITH) hitched to the toppled vessel a barge with a crane and other equipment and started underwater inspections for the precise locations of all the 17 fuel-tanks of Concordia, containing nearly 2 million litres of heavy fuel oil. The actual pumping is not expected to begin until Saturday.
Experts have identified an initial 6 fuel tanks that'll be worked on. The procedure would take 2-4 weeks, and generally consists of drilling into the tanks, attaching valves onto them, then the sludge-like oil must be heated, then hoses will be attached to the valves to vacuum out the oil as seawater is pumped into to displace it. Once those 6 initial tanks are emptied, more than 50% of the ship's fuel will have been extracted.
According to the latest investigation reports, the Concordia's notorious captain Francesco Schettino veered from the approved course of the ship and approached Giglio to perform a "salute" to a former Costa Cruceros captain. Mr Schettino navigated the ship "by sight", and he obviously ordered to turn too late. Concordia ended up in too shallow water where struck a rock from the Le Scole reef, tearing open an almost 50 meter (160 ft) gash in the hull. Captain Schettino remains under house arrest, facing charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck by unauthorised and unapproved deviation from the course and abandoning his ship before all passengers were off.
As a direct result from this so absurd accident, there is a currently ongoing review of the European Union's passenger ships safety legislation, in particular prioritizing on the issues of stability and design of passenger ships, and crew and staff training, more specifically - safe operations and emergency evacuation procedures.
The future of Costa Concordia. The fuel extraction is almost entirely weather-dependent. Bad weather hampers diving, using lifting equipment, navigating safely other crafts alongside the ship, etc. The position of the half-submerged cruise liner offers some relief - it's on the Italian coast side of Giglio, so it's relatively sheltered from getting really heavy seas. After pumping the fuel out, the ship must be uprighted and when afloat to be towed to a repair yard or a scrap location - depending on the damage assessment. If not possible to be uprighted, Costa Concordia will be cut in pieces and hauled away for scrap. The decision will be made by the owners and insurers, probably sometimes this week.
Sadly, the fate of Costa Concordia - one of the largest cruise ships in the world and a really great entertainment ship also depends on psychology. Even with changed name, differently painted and fully refurbished, or with different owner, she will have a history of a "ship that once sank", and that could prompt Costa and Carnival to figure they don't want Concordia back. And as you see, the insurance money is sweet enough - they could simply build a new one.
The ominous Concordia - facts to fiction. The date was Friday 13th (oh, boy) and the year is 2012 (some noticed that RMS Titanic sank almost exactly 100 years ago - on April 14th 1912). The name is Concordia (some remembered the Concorde aircraft crash on July 25th 2000), and of course, the inauspicious launch - the failure of the ceremonial Champagne bottle to break on the bow of the new ship on September 2nd 2005 at Sestri Ponente.
We wish happy and safe cruising to all adventurous souls. Do not allow sad events to dim the joy of life. Embrace the inevitable, hope for the best, be grateful for everything in your life.
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