Costa Concordia disaster

Costa Concordia disaster took place as the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia hit a reef and capsized on 13 January 2012, off the Italian coast. The vessel ran aground at Isola del Giglio, Italy, resulting in the evacuation of 4,232 people on board. At least six passengers and crew died, 42 others were injured, two seriously, two passengers trapped below deck have been rescued, and about 40 are still unaccounted for. The captain and first officer have been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter after sailing much closer to the shore than allowed, but loss of navigational power and steering control has not been ruled out. The Costa Concordia entered service in July 2006 and was the largest ship built in Italy at the time of her construction, at 114,500 tons and 290.2 meters, costing 450 million euros.


On 13 January 2012, Costa Concordia ran aground on a reef at around 21:00 local time (UTC+1) off Isola del Giglio, having left Civitavecchia earlier that evening at the beginning of a seven-day cruise starting in Savona and visiting Marseille, Barcelona, Palma, Tunis, and Palermo. According to the local coastguard, 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew members were on board at the time.


At 17:48 UTC La Repubblica reported that the captain had stated that they were 300 metres (330 yd) from the rocks (i.e., about the length of the vessel) and that they hit a rock that was not marked on nautical charts. This reef was about 800 metres (870 yd) south of the entrance to the harbour of Giglio. The vessel continued for approximately another 1,000 metres (1,100 yd) until just north of the harbour entrance. The vessel then turned in an attempt to get close to the harbour. This turn shifted the centre of gravity to the starboard side of the ship, and it listed over to that side initially by about 20°, finally coming to rest at an angle of heel of about 80°.[11] According to the local coast guard, the ship has a 50-metre (160 ft) gash on its port side,[10] with a large rock embedded in the ship's hull.


Some passengers jumped into the water to swim to shore, while others, ready to evacuate the vessel, were delayed by crew members up to 45 minutes, as they resisted immediately lowering the lifeboats. Three people reportedly drowned after jumping overboard, and another seven were critically injured. Local fire chief Ennio Aquilino said his men, "plucked 100 people from the water and saved around 60 others who were trapped in the boat.


Of the passengers, 989 were Italians, 569 were Germans, 462 were French, 177 were Spanish, 126-129 were Americans, 127 were Croatians, 108 were Russians, 74 were Austrians, 69 were Swiss, 47 were Brazilian, at least 34 were Dutch, 26 were Hong Kongers, 25 were British, 21 were Australians, 17-18 were Argentines, 13 were ROC Taiwanese, 12 were Canadians, 12 were PRC Chinese, 11 were Portuguese, 10 were Colombians, 10 were Chileans, 9 were Turkish, and 1 was a New Zealander. Other passengers were of Mexican, and Irish nationalities. Of the crew members, 12 were British, 6 were Brazilian and at least one was Peruvian.


At least six people died (including two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member), 42 others were injured, two seriously, two passengers trapped below deck have been rescued, and about 40 are still unaccounted for. Costa has indicated the actual number may be considerably less, as the company is researching which passengers and crew members were definitively on board at the time of the grounding.




Passengers and crew were housed in all available buildings and makeshift shelters in Giglio Porto and elsewhere on Isola del Giglio.
The captain, 52-year-old Francesco Schettino, with a tenure of 11 years, and the ship's first officer have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and abandoning ship. They were being questioned as of 14 January 2012.Officials are trying to determine why the ship did not issue a mayday and why it was navigating so close to the coast. "At the moment we can't exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn't send a mayday," said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno, "The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing.


Due to the appearance of the disaster and the size of the ship, news commentators and eye-witness accounts have compared the disaster to that of the sinking of the RMS Titanic a hundred years earlier.


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