Costa Concordia SINKING

[Ravenscroft]

I read back through the information on line, and it seems when the tragedy happened they did not know if everyone was safe as there were still lots of passengers missing.

 

My post wasn't intended to be harsh. It made me go back to my information to seek that information out and nothing I read lead me to believe that ALL passengers were reported safe.

Do you have a link to that?

 

I can't find one.

 

I don't have any link to the original reports, but I'm in Europe and the first reports last night on the tv were that all the passengers were safe. Those reports were coming through at bed time over here. For those of you in US/Canada it was still early evening, so the reports became more accurate while we Europeans were sleeping. It was only when I woke up this morning that I heard that there had been lives lost in this tragedy.

I think when Italian Guest started the thread yesterday evening it was just to reflect the news that we had available to us at the time - the ship was sinking but all were safe. Just further proof that the news media doesn't get everything right all the time!

[CruiseAdict218]

I think if you were to re read his post he said that this may be what it was like on board, not that it was footage from the ship.

 

That video is not of the Brillance

[Canadian Karebear]

I am booking (on the sister series ship the CONQUEST, no less) next Friday for November. I got off the Conquest last Sunday, also. This incident hasn't deterred me ONE BIT. Not one tiny bit. I still believe cruising to be one of the safest traveling methods ever and this doesn't change it at all. Things happen. As horrible as this event is, it's inevitable that events like this do and will happen in ALL forms of transportation. All we can do is be humbled by the tragedy of it and sympathetic to those affected and proud of those who kept the numbers as low as they are and learn what we can from it to better the future.

 

And to be frank, shame on anyone who places blame on anyone in this situation with out knowing the facts, especially you "deck officer." You know nothing of the events and have no authority to lay blame and to racially profile your blame is disgusting! Not to mention... We can all claim what we would do in a situation like this but until you are in it you have no clue how you would react. I have seen grown men of the highest regard throw women aside to jump on a rescue boat, and I have seen a convicted felon literally give his life to save a complete stranger and even more surprises during hurricane Katrina, none of them expected reactions, but all of them caused by panic. Do not attempt to chastise people for their actions in this situation as you have not been in that situation to earn the privilege. (Sorry to the other readers for having to read my rant, but I couldn't reserve my comment on this one.)

 

 

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Agreed, am sailing on an Italian ship in less than a month. Had friends on the Costa and finally heard from them that they are safe on land.

[SarniaLo]

If you look at this posting you will see that the Concordia changed course just before. There appears to be another ship directly in front of Concordia before the course was changed. not sure if that was what caused the ship to head directly towards the island.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1548814

I hadn't seen this message, thank you.

This is indeed really weird. I hope we will know what happened eventually...

[Canadian Karebear]

I don't have any link to the original reports, but I'm in Europe and the first reports last night on the tv were that all the passengers were safe. Those reports were coming through at bed time over here. For those of you in US/Canada it was still early evening, so the reports became more accurate while we Europeans were sleeping. It was only when I woke up this morning that I heard that there had been lives lost in this tragedy.

I think when Italian Guest started the thread yesterday evening it was just to reflect the news that we had available to us at the time - the ship was sinking but all were safe. Just further proof that the news media doesn't get everything right all the time!

 

My friends just called in safe so I am content. I feel very sorry for the families that lost loved ones. Still a tragedy, no matter how you look at it.

[Starlight Durban Cruising]

I was going to post a link with some striking photos in it, but several are already posted, perhaps this same one.

In case not:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086527/Costa-Concordia-accident-Pictures-cruise-ship-sinking-coast-Italy-Titanic-like-scene.html

 

OMG, that picture of the chunk of rock stuck in the side of the ship - it's huge. They must have been doing some speed to actually get a piece of rock that size to break off and imbed itself into the "point of impact".

[Cancruizer]

Please for the sake of all of us keep this post free of jokes, conjecture and opinions. Thank you fellow posters and cruise critic for posting news from reliable sources. As our thoughts and concerns go out to those involved it is a true service to have one place -- Cruise Critic -- to come to for current available information.

 

 

It is a message board... where people share opinions. Do we have to chastise?

[Ravenscroft]

My friends just called in safe so I am content. I feel very sorry for the families that lost loved ones. Still a tragedy, no matter how you look at it.

 

I'm so glad that you heard from your friends!

Yes, a tragedy, my thoughts go to all the families and friends.

[ObscureAllure]

The sister ship of the Concordia is the Carnival Splendor. Concordia is not a Conquest Class ship.

 

Take care,

Mike

 

Apologies if this is correct. I was under the impression that it is a sister class to conquest (not sister ship, sister class), but I may be under the wrong impression.

 

 

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[ZenInAustin]

If my guess is right. The Costa bridge officers tried to make a high speed run by the island of Giglio's port. This did not occur in open water, but near the port. And hit an known rock outcropping, not a reef or sandbar as some have speculated. It may not have been marked as a navigation hazard on the maps in the bridge or navigation computer, but that doesn't matter once you hit a hazard.

 

If this is true, then the bridge officers are negligent. But you wont hear about it for awhile until the maritime lawyers get involved. And those of you who want to come to defend, should keep in mind that Costa itself is in defense mode, and withholding information, as is their right. Carnival is staying as far away from this is they can(if you haven't noticed) - My guess is that they don't want this incident to tarnish the other brands.

 

And I wonder how often the lifeboat engines were turned over; that's always an issue. How often do they extend and drop for test runs. I bet we will hear stories about this over the next few days.

[CruiseAdict218]

Apologies if this is correct. I was under the impression that it is a sister class to conquest (not sister ship, sister class), but I may be under the wrong impression.

 

 

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You are right, the Concordia-class is a modifed verison of the Conquest-class

[ObscureAllure]

Agreed, am sailing on an Italian ship in less than a month. Had friends on the Costa and finally heard from them that they are safe on land.

 

Good to hear about your friends, hoping those 40 or 70 missing are just misplaced. :(

 

Any more news on the located 2 yet?

 

 

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[Daisyloo]

my two cents based on sitting in the Captain's chair for a couple of years and investigating officer for a couple of marine 'incidents' but these are just first thoughts

 

- looking at the overall layout of where the ship was due to go and where it went I have to suspect there was a deviation from the normal course.

 

- tracks show a deviation to port, toward the island that makes no navigational sense

 

* my opinion is this was an electronic error. 'Someone' had reprogrammed the GPS tied to the auto-pilot and had fat fingered a course entry (note the one digit error mentioned by another post), This error turned the ship TOWARD the island rather than north leaving the island safely to the west. (maritime cases are loaded with "radar assisted collision" cases, easily expanded to electronic because folks relied TOO hard on the magic of electrons)

 

* OPINION - SADLY the bridge watch noticed this error WAY too late. (In the vernacular of 'Bridge Resource Management', we call this 'loss of situational awareness) Once detected they notified the Captain who knew they were far off track and getting back on track would cost dollars in either a late arrival or consumption of addition fuel to increase speed.

 

* OPINION - The Captain then saw a short cut ..... a pass between two islands that was narrow but 'just enough' and allowed for minimal loss of time and distance

 

* OPINION - He went for it ..... and learned it was not well charted, because no significant vessels sail thru it!!!!! Oops, turned trying to avoid a rock but the stern swing (a ship turns from the back, your car turns from the front) had him catch the rock "full and by" - he's got a SERIOUS problem now.....

 

* OPINION - Once holed he saw he was close to the port and thought if I can dock the ship the risk is FAR FAR less, so he heads north to the port, only a few miles away while trying to manage the flooding. During this time he tells his crew, do NOT abandon, because I'm going to dock......

 

* the port entrance faces north and he approaches from the south so he must do a 180 degree turn about. Doing so allows enough of the water taken on thru the MASSIVE hole to shift (free surface effect) and the ship lists significantly to starboard resulting in a decision (or an uncontrolled event) to ground the ship just outside the port entrance. (ship damage control . . . )

 

My opinion . . . .

 

Sounds quite plausible.

[TVMet]

Interesting that in one of the pictures you can see the stabalizer is still deployed.

[cruisemom42]

No the last I read three were dead, 14 hurt and some were still missing.

 

http://www.agi.it/english-version/italy/elenco-notizie/201201141252-cro-ren1026-costa_concordia_runs_aground_off_giglio_3_dead_14_hurt

 

 

Get your facts straight.

 

I read back through the information on line, and it seems when the tragedy happened they did not know if everyone was safe as there were still lots of passengers missing.

 

My post wasn't intended to be harsh. It made me go back to my information to seek that information out and nothing I read lead me to believe that ALL passengers were reported safe.

Do you have a link to that?

 

I can't find one.

 

My friends just called in safe so I am content. I feel very sorry for the families that lost loved ones. Still a tragedy, no matter how you look at it.

 

Perhaps now that you are 'content' you should consider an apology to Italian Guest who a) was reporting accurately what was known at the time, b) went to considerable effort to update this discussion when most US news agencies had yet to mention the event, and c) actually tried to help someone locate a missing person who was onboard.

 

I guess no good deed must go unchastised.....

[SarniaLo]

Any more news on the located 2 yet?

They were apparently taken safely ashore:

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

[Pushka]

Italian guest was going all out earlier to help someone whose girlfriend was part of the crew. But maybe you were all asleep at the time as it was in the middle of the night for USA people. They deserve kudos not slaps.

[PelicanBill]

Exploring the theory that the ship hit uncharted rocks, which is why it turned 20 degrees to port heading toward the island.

 

I found Nav chart and plotted that position... due east of the southern tip of Gilio and due south of the southern tip of Argentario.

 

The chart shows that as deep water - 80-100 fathoms. But not far to the northwest is a small circle with a depth of only 24 fathoms. Now that is still deep, but it suggests there is some underwater formation there that is narrow and tall from the sea floor. Perhaps there is another one that is uncharted.

 

It will be very interesting to learn if the data recorder confirms the ship's first incident was at that turn. If it does it backs the report that it was an uncharted obstacle. If we learn the turn was made and then the incident was in close to Gilio, then that is real bad as the ship has no business being that close to Gilio.

[sloopsailor]

I myself prefer to say a prayer and keep positive thoughts and don't need anyone to tell me otherwise..

 

And for some of us, the endless "My prayers are with them" adds zero to the discussion and have become tiresome. If you want to pray for someone, do it in the privacy of your home. No need to tell the whole world about it.

[DesertSailors]

I myself prefer to say a prayer and keep positive thoughts and don't need anyone to tell me otherwise..

 

 

 

 

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Amen.

[Cruzface]

Exploring the theory that the ship hit uncharted rocks, which is why it turned 20 degrees to port heading toward the island.

 

I found Nav chart and plotted that position... due east of the southern tip of Gilio and due south of the southern tip of Argentario.

 

The chart shows that as deep water - 80-100 fathoms. But not far to the northwest is a small circle with a depth of only 24 fathoms. Now that is still deep, but it suggests there is some underwater formation there that is narrow and tall from the sea floor. Perhaps there is another one that is uncharted.

 

It will be very interesting to learn if the data recorder confirms the ship's first incident was at that turn. If it does it backs the report that it was an uncharted obstacle. If we learn the turn was made and then the incident was in close to Gilio, then that is real bad as the ship has no business being that close to Gilio.

 

Dude, put your abicus away. They were 2.5 miles off course, that's why they hit a rock.

[karen&roy]

So glad to hear the 2 people were rescued. I dont know about the rest of you but this tragedy has me a bit scared. Im amazed that these huge ships can go down so fast. I am rethinking booking the Oasis

News that 2 people were found

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16564789

[sloopsailor]

I think if you were to re read his post he said that this may be what it was like on board, not that it was footage from the ship.

 

Perhaps, but I understood it as video from the ship. Considering the wording, it was easy to misinterpret what the OP was actually saying.

[jcl410]

Has any one been able to find the AIS data from this web site?

 

http://www.denizhaber.com/

 

I've only seen the static image supplied with the story. I'd love to be able to see the individual AIS reports close up...

 

Next question: Has any one seen a (semi?) definitive time line of events?

 

1) I've read that the power outage/scrape occured while appitizers were being eaten; 1st or 2nd seating? (when time did the Costa Concordia have her seatings?)

 

2) The ship was schedules to depart at 1900 CET (UTC+1)

 

3) This website : http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=9&oldmmsi=247158500&olddate=1/13/2012%208:21:00%20PM

 

(Note that their is no data between 2037UTC and 2053, so the website just draws a straight line.)

 

shows the ships track starting from 2031Z (2131CET). at that point, it was close (2.5 miles) to a relatively shallow spot according to my chart. (<100 feet) Note: My chart data is from 2008 and is out of date.

 

I have attached a screen shot of the area I'm talking about.

 

4) My chart shows the distance between the two rocks as less than 250 feet. The majority of the area is less that 10 meters deep (32.8ft). There are no channel markers in between them. -- There is no way I'd take a private yacht between those rocks; there's really no need to -- it's only about .2 miles offshore to the 164 ft depth line (50 meters).

 

Aloha,

 

John

[ObscureAllure]

You are right, the Concordia-class is a modifed verison of the Conquest-class

 

I was thinking so.

 

Slightly off topic but a bit of input: Last week when we were on the Conquest we had high winds approaching Key West. When we started towards the channel, the captain felt the winds made the channel unsafe. (I'm what my husband calls a "chickensh*t" and I thought the winds didn't seem so bad and the channel looked fairly ok, but then again I'm no captain and should never, ever be in charge of the safety of a vessel!) We were slightly disappointed that we couldn't stop at Key West, but the fact was he was making the call based on safety. Carnival refunded every passenger money and they gave us extra time in Nassau, so it cost Carnival money to do so... But they chose safety over money or pax happiness. Yes, there were people who raised hell for the change in itinerary, but most of us were thankful and grateful to the Catptain and cheered and gave him a standing ovation that night at the Capt's party when he apologized to us because we were all so proud of his decision, even if we all didn't agree with the level of danger. (Again, we being stupid land lovers and armchair navigators who think we know it all and him being a well trained and knowledgeable Captain. Lol!)

 

Later, upon re-entering the Mississippi River there was some Marsh on fire near the passage that blew smoke to the ship. A few passengers grew panicked thinking it was from the ship, but before it could become a full of panic, the crew stepped in and calmed everyone down.

 

 

I felt completely safe in both occasions and feel completely safe for next time, too! :)

 

 

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