Thatsa big aboat

[EE_]

What the heck do you do with it now? What a disaster!

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/1/14/1326578083493/Italian-cruise-ship-the-C-007.jpg

[JJ.G0ldD0t]

oook - so what's the story?

[JJ.G0ldD0t]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/14/italian-cruise-ship-disaster-titanic

[EE_]

Police arrest Italian captain of cruise ship that ran aground, killing 3By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 4:24 PM EST, Sat January 14, 2012
The Costa Concordia, owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises, ran aground on a sand bank off the island of Giglio on Friday, January 13.
The ship has a breach on the hull of about 90 meters, according to Officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.
On Saturday, January 14, crowds prepare to leave the island of Giglio, where passengers were staying after the ship ran aground.
The ship was on a cruise in the Mediterranean, leaving from Savona with planned stops in Civitavecchia, Palermo, Cagliari, Palma, Barcelona and Marseille, the company said.
Passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano in Italy Saturday after being evacuated from the ship.
Costa says the emergency operation continues and is helping passengers and crew return home.
Italian police assist in the rescue after the cruise ship ran aground near the Italian island of Giglio.
The huge ship, which which is now lying on its side in shallow water, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground at about dinner time.
Passengers arrive on land after they were rescued. There was chaos as passengers scrambled to get off the ship.
Evacuation efforts started promptly but were made "extremely difficult" by the position of the listing ship.
The Costa Concordia cruise ship is pictured in March 2009 in Civitavecchia, Rome's tourist port.
HIDE CAPTIONCruise ship runs aground off ItalyCruise ship runs aground off Italy

NEW: Captain says rocks were not on the navigation chart, ANSA reports
The captain is being investigated for abandoning ship and manslaughter
An estimated 126 Americans were among the 3,200 passengers
Scores of people are unaccounted for, but may be at hospitals and shelters
Are you there? Send CNN iReport your stories, videos

Porto Santo Stefano, Italy (CNN) -- The Italian captain of the cruise ship that ran aground -- killing three people, injuring 20 and leaving dozens unaccounted for -- was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for abandoning ship and manslaughter, said a local prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy.

Abandoning ship is the more serious of the potential charges, authorities said.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, had been earlier interviewed by investigators in Porto Santo Stefano about what happened when the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia struck rocks in shallow water off Italy's western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.

Schettino said "that rock was not indicated on the chart," according to Italy's ANSA news agency.

"Me and the crew, we were the last to abandon ship," ANSA quoted him as saying.

Authorities were looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, officials said. The ship is owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises.

"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. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing," Del Santo said prior to the announcement of the arrest.

Giuseppe Orsina, a spokesman with the local civil protection agency, said 43 to 51 people were missing, though authorities are reviewing passenger lists to confirm the exact figure.



Captain of cruise ship arrested

Witnesses talk about cruise ship accident

3 killed after cruise ship runs aground "These people could be still on the island of Giglio, in private houses or in hospitals," Orsina said.

The coast guard said 50 to 70 people could be missing. Divers suspended their search late Saturday until Sunday morning.

Authorities said earlier Saturday they believed everyone was accounted for, but that they did not have a definitive list of names.

"Fear and panic are comprehensible in a ship long over 300 meters with over 4,000 passengers," Del Santo said. "We can confirm that the ship has a breach on the hull of about 90 meters, and that the right side of it is completely under water."

Two French tourists and a crew member from Peru were killed, Port authorities in Livorno said. One of the victims was a 65-year-old woman who died of a heart attack, according to authorities.

A surviving crew member, Rosalyn Rincon, 30, of Blackpool, England, said she wanted to know why the cruise ship was sailing so close to shore. She described a harrowing grounding of the vessel, whose tilting and rising water evoked the film "Titanic," she said.

"I'm pretty much angry, and I want to know why we were so close to the coast," said Rincon, who works as a dancer on the ship and was entertaining passengers by performing a trick inside a box with a magician when the accident occurred.

Nautilus International, a maritime employees trade union, called the accident a "wake-up call" to regulators.

"Nautilus is concerned about the rapid recent increases in the size of passenger ships -- with the average tonnage doubling over the past decade," said Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson in a statement. "Many ships are now effectively small towns at sea, and the sheer number of people onboard raises serious questions about evacuation."

The ship was 2.5 miles off route when it struck a rocky sandbar, according to the Italian Coast Guard. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor.

Gianni Onorato, president of Costa Cruises, expressed "deep sorrow for this terrible tragedy," but said the cruise line was unable to answer all the questions that authorities are now investigating.

"On the basis of the initial evidence — still preliminary — Costa Concordia, under the command of Master Francesco Schettino, was sailing its regularly scheduled itinerary from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when the ship struck a submerged rock," Onorato said in a statement before the announcement of the captain's announcement.

"Captain Schettino, who was on the bridge at the time, immediately understood the severity of the situation and performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew, and initiated security procedures to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation," he continued.

"Unfortunately, that operation was complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship that made disembarkation difficult," Onorato said.

Some passengers fell into the chilly waters during the rescue, ANSA reported.

See high-res images of the rescue

The huge ship, which was lying on its side in shallow water Saturday evening, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground around dinner time.

Initial reports suggested as many as six people had been killed, but it was unclear why the number dropped. About 1,500 of the people aboard the ship were on their way home Saturday, the Civil Protection Authority said.

Passengers described how the lights went out and it then became clear the ship had hit something, prompting scenes of chaos.

Fear and panic aboard crippled ship

Laurie Willits from Ontario, who was watching a magic show with her husband at that moment, told CNN: "We heard a scraping noise to the left of the ship and then my husband said 'we're sliding off our seats.'"



Passengers face problems off cruise ship

Italy cruise ship evacuated

Thousands rescued after ship runs aground Map: Giglio, Italy

Map: Giglio, ItalyThe couple ran to their cabin to get coats and life jackets before making their way to a lifeboat. Emergency instructions in English were hard to hear, Willits said.

Panic spread as people scrambled to find lifeboats in the dark as the ship quickly leaned to one side. Access to some lifeboats was hampered by the ship's tilt into the water, adding to the confusion.

Willits and her husband, who managed to get into a lifeboat about an hour to 90 minutes after the alarm was raised, watched from a pier on the island as the ship slowly sank until it was at an almost 90 degree angle in the water.

"I'm exhausted, I haven't had any sleep, I'm hungry," Willits said, but added that she was relieved to have been able to call her family thanks to the help of people on the island.

The coast guard said three helicopters were used to rescue some passengers from the ship.

Adm. Ilarione Dell'Anna, head of coastal authorities for the port city of Livorno, said an investigation is under way.

"There has probably been a technical blackout," he said. "The ship was dangerously near the coast. We worked all night in a state of maximum emergency.

"Fortunately the sea conditions have helped us, otherwise -- given the high number of people to rescue, 4,231 -- we could have had a completely different scenario: a real tragedy."

Many of those rescued in the early hours were taken to small churches and other buildings around the island for shelter. Some were still wearing the pajamas and slippers they had on as the ship went down, as they waited for help Saturday morning at reception centers set up on the island.

Costa said it was focusing on the final stages of the emergency operation and helping passengers and crew return home.

"It is a tragedy that deeply affects our company. Our first thoughts go to the victims and we would like to express our condolences and our closeness to their families and friends," Costa said on its website.

The Concordia, built in 2006, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo, according to the cruise line. It was unclear how far into the cruise the grounding occurred.

Most of the passengers on board were Italian, as well as some French and German citizens. CNN affiliate America Noticias, in Peru, said a group of 32 Peruvians were also onboard. Brazil's state-run Agencia Brasil said 53 Brazilians were on the cruise ship: 47 passengers and six crew members, according to the foreign ministry. An estimated 126 Americans were also on board, according to the U.S. State Department. There were no reports of injured Americans.

The United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office was working with Italian authorities to identify British nationals on the cruise, a spokesman said.

Another Costa ship was involved in a deadly 2010 accident when the Costa Europa crashed into a pier in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh during stormy weather, killing three crew members.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/14/world/europe/italy-cruise-deaths/?hpt=hp_t1

[JJ.G0ldD0t]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/14/italian-cruise-ship-disaster-titanic

My in-laws are on a cruise RIGHT NOW


I just emailed this to them


BWAHAHAHAHAhahahahah

[EE_]

Your in-laws will be fine and will be home in due time to butt into your marriage as usual

[EE_]

The news said they were only cruising for three hours...a three hour tour, a three hour tour? Coincidence? I think not!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfR7qxtgCgY

[EE_]

Can you say screwed?


The captain of the colossal cruise ship that ran aground off a picturesque Italian island -- killing three people, injuring 20 and leaving dozens unaccounted for -- was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for abandoning ship and manslaughter, a local prosecutor said.

Abandoning ship is the more serious of the potential charges, authorities said.

[k-os]

Can you say screwed?

That's a crappy captain.

[BrewTech]

That's allotta boat!

They could just cut it up and ship it to China before anyone investigated what brought it down.

[Neuro]

I wouldn't be surprised if the captain was drunk...

[Glass]

Friday the 13th. Never sail on Friday the 13th or Davey could have something to say about it.

[osoab]

Can you say screwed?


Looks like a witch hunt. Like just the act of arresting somebody was going to help the situation.

[EE_]

It's still beyond me how a ship of this size with it's technology, can even get near rocks?
You would think there would be sonar monitoring front, sides and depth?
Satellite, GPS?

Name: Costa Concordia
Owner: Carnival Corporation & plc
Operator: Costa Cruises
Port of registry: Genoa, Italy
Ordered: 19 January 2004
Builder: Fincantieri Sestri Ponente, Italy
Cost: €450 million
£372 million[1]
$570 million USD[1]
Yard number: 6122
Launched: 2 September 2005 (2005-09-02)
Christened: 7 July 2006[2]
Acquired: 30 June 2006
Maiden voyage: July 14 2006
In service: July 2006
Out of service: 13 January 2012
Identification: Call sign: IBHD
IMO number: 9320544
MMSI no.: 247158500

Status: Partially capsized off Isola del Giglio, Italy

Tonnage: 114,500 GT
Length: 290.20 m (952 ft 1 in)
Beam: 35.50 m (116 ft 6 in)
Draught: 8.50 m (27 ft 11 in)
Draft: 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in)
Decks: 13 passenger decks
Installed power: 6 × Wärtsilä diesel engines, 75,600 kilowatts (101,400 hp)
Speed: service: 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
maximum: 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Capacity: 3,700 passengers
Crew: 1,100

[EE_]

Maybe there's more to this story?

Concordia captain claims company ordered 'salute' to islandFrancesco Schettino reportedly challenges Costa over cruise collision as 13th body is found by divers

The Guardian, Sunday 22 January 2012 Article history A woman's body was discovered on the Costa Concordia by divers on Sunday, taking to number of confirmed dead to 13 Link to this video Francesco Schettino, the cruise ship captain accused of steering the Costa Concordia into rocks on the island of Giglio in a reckless bid to "salute" the island, has reportedly said he was ordered to carry out the manoeuvre by ship owner Costa Crociere.

"The salute at Giglio on 13 January was planned and wanted by Costa before the departure from Civitavecchia," Schettino told a judge investigating the collision, according to transcripts leaked to Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

At least 13 people died trying to escape from the vessel as it listed on rocks following the collision. A woman's body was found by divers in a submerged portion of the ship on Sunday afternoon, raising the death toll by one. The captain is being held under house arrest accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.

Meanwhile the head of the Costa Concordia search operation has warned that "clandestine passengers" may have been on board, complicating the identification of bodies and potentially adding to the number who have died. Franco Gabrielli said: "There could have been X persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine" passengers aboard the ship." People might have been invited aboard by a staff member as the ship departed and not registered, another official said.

Schettino said the "salute" should have been carried out a week earlier, but was put off due to bad weather.

He reportedly told the investigating judge that there was "insistence" by the firm on carrying out such manoeuvres, because it was a good way to promote its cruises.

"Costa was aware of the repeated practice of 'saluting' around the world," said Schettino.

The claims appeared to contradict Pier Luigi Foschi, the chief executive of Costa Crociere, who said last week: "I can't exclude that ships have been sailed closer to land on the initiative of some captains without informing us. But I have never been aware of this taking place in an unsafe manner."

He said steering within metres of Giglio on 13 January was "unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa" and pointed to the onboard newspaper, which said the ship would stay five miles off the coast.

Schettino said he had given up-close salutes to the island of Capri and the Sorrento coast near Naples on previous occasions, as well as at Giglio, following the example of another Costa captain.

One US law firm which is preparing legal action on behalf of passengers has said: "It's too easy to say this captain acted alone."

In response to Schettino's latest claims, Costa Crociere said on Sunday: "Costa Crociere will not be commenting on any aspect of the ongoing judicial proceedings."

Schettino also reportedly told the judge, Valeria Montesarchio, that on the night of the collision he discovered some of the equipment which records navigation data was out of order, which could hamper investigators' efforts to reconstruct his route.

The transcript also shows Schettino at odds with Costa's account of the communication between captain and company after the collision.

Foschi has accused Schettino of keeping the firm in the dark about the state of the ship, which was listing as it took on water.

Schettino reportedly told the judge he gave an accurate description of the collision to Costa Crociere official Roberto Ferrarini and told him he would seek to swing the boat around on to rocks by Giglio port.

"Yes, do that," Schettino reports Ferrarini telling him. And when the boat grounded, Ferrarini allegedly said "At this point, more than this … We won't sink any longer."

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Foschi said Schettino had always been considered one of the firm's best captains, albeit with a "pronounced ego".

On the island of Giglio, the head of Italy's civil protection agency Franco Gabrielli arrived on Saturday to take over the search for passengers left on board the listed vessel after mounting concern over the duplication of efforts – and the conflicting information given out by – the various police, military and emergency services who have been involved.

Gabrielli may decide that salvage teams can now start working on removing fuel from the vessel even as the search for passengers continues, suggesting that the Dutch salvage workers waiting on Giglio could have been sent into action days ago.

Fears are growing that the ship could slip into deeper waters, even though the predicted arrival of bad weather that could disturb the Costa Concordia is now thought to be further off.

Over the weekend, ferries to Giglio from the mainland were filled with tourists keen to see the marooned Costa Concordia. Some of them took picnics on to the rocks overlooking the vessel.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/22/costa-concordia-captain-salute-island-claims

[Glass]

13 dead on Friday the 13th.

[EE_]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg5biKW7LUo

[slvrbugjim]

This is the EU a portent of the very near future

[osoab]

This is the EU a portent of the very near future

Your quote in an image.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2012/01/Discordia.png

Friday Humor - This Is Europe! (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/friday-humor-europe)

[lapis]

Italian Cruise ship captain Francesco Schettino began his new job as a bus driver yesterday.....



2142

[solid]

After being the first one off in the devastating, bus capsize incident, and fleeing the scene...

Schettino was last seen as the proud Captain of his own rickshaw, whereabouts unknown.

2143