Costa Concordia SINKING

[bazzaw]

The ship does not need all the lifeboats as they have the inflatable rafts as well with all of them able to hold double the amount of souls on board.

 

Which is a good point. Is anyone aware of the inflatable rafts being used at all?? I sometimes think I would rather be in a liferaft than one of the lifeboats. Every cruiseship I have been on has tender boats (which double as lifeboats). These boats are meant to seat many people ( eg 150) - but with the increasing size/weight of western people today, I would hate to be on one with a FULL load of passengers.

 

 

Barry

[alwayshappytocruise]

I missed that video when it was posted earlier! There is also a longer version, really makes me shudder to think what these people went through.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwmz9LN8wcE&feature=related

 

Edit to add: It also shows how high the ship was in the water initially and how it has really receded. The view of the bow really shows the difference dramatically.

 

Almost unbelievable, I am actually rendered speechless......

[astrocruises]

One survivor (the French woman whose husband died) mentioned in a press report that the water temperature at the time was 8 degrees C, which is about 46 degrees F.

[alwayshappytocruise]

I wonder what the time of the video is in relation to the location of the captain.

 

It was reported he took a life boat to shore after all the people were rescued. There were no boats being launched there.:mad::mad:

 

I was wondering the same thing....Basta

[Northern Bear]

There is a Youtube video of a previous sail-by salute of the island. The salute being the blasting of the ships horn.

 

Have a link to this? Youtube is inundated with Costa Video right now so its tough to search.

[bazzaw]

Russian TV footage (Novosti, Channel 1) today taken by some of the 100 Russian passengers of yellow lifejacketed crew members, Filipinos, pushing passengers out of the way and swarming the life boats.

 

Looks like a total breakdown of command from top to bottom.

 

I have already been lambasted in another thread by calling into question the fact that all announcements, including important safety announcements, are broadcast in 5 European languages - plus now we have to consider that most of the staff ( Filipino, Indian?, and don't know what others are used on Costa ships) would only speak their own language and English. The more I think about it the more I realise that these European ships eg Costa and MSC are a disaster just waiting to happen (again)

 

 

Barry

[RyanDMB99@aol.com]

So I've spent the weekend reading as much as I can on the topic, first and foremost I think whether or not the crew's preparedness for this tragedy continues to be in question- I think it's impressive that out of 4200 people less than 20 people were killed. By no means am I belittling those that did parish, but to put it in context- how many survivors are there usually in an airline tragedy?

So I would like to say Cheers to the crew and passengers of Concordia for escaping under less than ideal circumstances!

Next I would like to inject some calm into an otherwise scared general public- CRUISING IS STILL SAFE!

From the early information still coming out, this ship was involved in maneuvers that were not approved and should not have taken place in an area of water known to have rocks and reefs. More to the point here in America a high percentage of potential cruisers are looking to go to the Caribbean, which is mostly sandy sea bottoms. So EVEN if a ship were to strike the bottom, it's entirely unlikely that sand would tear the bottom of the ship open and cause the ship to sink! This accident seems to be completely human-error, and NOT the TITANIC! Cruise ships are still safe places to vacation. The only thing that might warrant further investigation is the electrical systems aboard the Concordia/Splendor class ships. If early reports are correct, an electrical issue was also a factor in the Concordia accident. Conversely it was an electrical fault in the Splendor that caused it to go adrift last November. Both ships are the same build by the same shipbuilder. So just like when Boeing builds a faulty airframe and has to go back over the blueprints, I think the shipyard who built this ship may need to head back to the drawing board, it seems they have some electrical issues to work out.

 

The other area I am fascinated by is the debate as to whether or not the ship can be salvaged or not. Would a ship this size, have the ability to be repaired and returned to service? Carnival's press release stated that it would be out of service the remainder of the 2012 season, however that leaves the indication that it could make a reappearance down the road. However I read another poster in one of these threads point out that due to all the flooding so many things could be damaged by the saltwater such as electrical systems, engineering and propulsion, 50% of the cabins would need refitted and fixed, and superficial contruction... would all be more costly than scrapping the ship out for steel. Also another poster pointed out- EVEN if Concordia can be re-integrated into the industry- Who is going to want to sail on her knowing what happened this weekend? Even if it was sold to one of the smaller cruise lines, would it be successful? SOOO many questions, so little answers yet!

[Aplmac]

This chart just extracted from the BBC's website

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16576979

 

 

 

The yellow line shows Costa's approved route

the orange line shows where Costa Concordia travelled.

 

Draw your own conclusions...

.

[Canadian Karebear]

I missed that video when it was posted earlier! There is also a longer version, really makes me shudder to think what these people went through.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwmz9LN8wcE&feature=related

 

Edit to add: It also shows how high the ship was in the water initially and how it has really receded. The view of the bow really shows the difference dramatically.

 

this is good video, the ship's engine is shown as still running, should they not have shut it off? I don't know the protocol there, but it's frightening for sure.

there are also lots of lifeboats noted on this video that haven't been deployed.

I hope those people all got off safely.

scary times indeed :eek:

[GrumpyOldWesty]

Have a link to this? Youtube is inundated with Costa Video right now so its tough to search.

 

If you go back to page 37 of this thread you will find it.

 

Peter

[SarniaLo]

Have a link to this? Youtube is inundated with Costa Video right now so its tough to search.

I found this link previously on this discussion (not from YouTube though):

http://video.corriere.it/nave-concordia-al-giglio-/9dfa5ea6-3e9b-11e1-8b52-5f77182bc574

[fortinweb]

Sorry if this has already been mentionned, but I've just spotted this... leaking liquid....fuel?

 

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16150043

 

And what about the unprocessed sewage and black water?

[bazzaw]

But considering the amount of panic, people probably crowded around the Promenade deck and just kept jumping into the nearest boat overloading some, and leaving others less full.

 

 

I was on the Cunard Queen Mary 2 once - and "joked" to my wife that I hoped the Captain never calls "abandon ship", because the Promenade Deck (which is the lowest point you could leap into the sea) is 80 FEET above sea level - and the next lowest outside deck is about 120 feet above sea level. We laughed about it - but can now see clearly that it is no laughing matter.

 

 

Barry

[Aplmac]

And what about the unprocessed sewage and black water?

3 days later? and still no big barges alongside to remove grey water? ..black water? ..fuel?

Can they even get at the holding tanks?? :cool:

.

[fortinweb]

Edit to add: It also shows how high the ship was in the water initially and how it has really receded. The view of the bow really shows the difference dramatically.

 

This might be attributable to the changing tide levels being different when differing images were taken.

[Aplmac]

I was on the Cunard Queen Mary 2 once - and "joked" to my wife that I hoped the Captain never calls "abandon ship",

because the Promenade Deck (which is the lowest point you could leap into the sea) is 80 FEET above sea level

- and the next lowest outside deck is about 120 feet above sea level.

We laughed about it - but can now see clearly that it is no laughing matter.

These are things I routinely check out on the Carnival cruises I go on.

Promenade Deck 3 on Glory and Victory are no more than about 15-20 ft. drop into the wet stuff.

 

Do you know where your escape route is? -even before this catastrophe happened? No?

[peteinsonj]

From my cruises on Princess and Royal Caribbean, I understood from talking to the crew, that every cruise ship is constantly monitored from a "control room" (location secret), where every element of what's going on is kept track of. Not only monitoring all the key systems & equipment on the ship, but everything regarding navigation etc. (and b/c of safety/ terrorists, too)

 

Wouldn't you think that would be the minimum Carnival/Costa would do with a half billion dollar investment and 4200+ pax on board?

 

So at "cruise mission control central" wouldn't you think that someone would have noticed the insane course that captain was taking and asked some questions?

 

The whole thing leaves me sad and flabbergasted how this can happen.

[Jumbiecruiser]

3 days later? and still no big barges alongside to remove grey water? ..black water? ..fuel?

 

Can they even get at the holding tanks?? :cool:

.

 

They haven't started any removal as the search and recovery teams are still working to find survivors/bodies. This is the first priority.

[bazzaw]

One thing that has been mentioned on UK news is that had the Captain ordered people to attend Muster stations right after they knew they were holed/Collision then almost if not All lifeboats would have been used and it would not have taken so long to get people off! sounds about right when you consider how long it takes sometimes before people turn up at their Muster stations!!

 

 

Another problem with these mega-ships. On Queen Mary 2 ( the only mega-ship I have been on), after a week of sailing, I actually lost some weight. Why? because of the amount of walking I did on her just getting around!! So, if your cabin is at the extreme end of the ship, fore or aft, down low - and you just happen to be in part of the ship along way away, when the whistle blows, we are told to go to our cabins and get our lifejackets . WELL - on QM2, it can take a good 20 minutes just to walk to your cabin - possibly down 7-8 flights of stairs and a 300 metre walk along a very long corridor. And that is for a relatively fit and young person - some of the cruiseship passengers are so old, infirm or obese, they could not even do that!

 

Barry

[bazzaw]

Well that rules out ALL the major cruise lines who hire their staff from Philippines/Indonesia/Eastern Europe.....

 

So who are you planning on cruising with?

 

Any cruiseship I have sailed on, these staff members ALL speak English!! And I am sure you know that. So why all your SPECIOUS arguments??? They probably don't speak many European languages. Filipinos may speak some Spanish.

 

Barry

[RZ3]

I missed that video when it was posted earlier! There is also a longer version, really makes me shudder to think what these people went through.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwmz9LN8wcE&feature=related

 

Edit to add: It also shows how high the ship was in the water initially and how it has really receded. The view of the bow really shows the difference dramatically.

 

This and the other video look incredibly fake. This person appears to have taken existing footage of helicopter flybys and added fake night vision to it. How on earth would someone have gotten actual night vision shots from the Italian Coast Guard like this? Someone is playing on people's gullibility.

 

Don't believe the hype.

[green cruiser]

I think that no matter how well the crew of a ship are trained to handle emergencies, passengers will mess it up.

 

No matter what you tell some people, they'll try to go the "wrong way" to find family/friends. People can be pushy enough when queuing for dinner, they're unlikely to be less so when queuing for a life boat.

 

After this disaster, who would trust to staff to bring children to the lifeboats from a ship-sponsored activty?

Fear of the unknown is one cause of panic. We saw that trying to pacify the passengers with "happy talk" did not work. Next time, officers may need to convey the serious nature of an "incident" from the start to head off the panic we witnessed on the Concodia.

[rubrrick]

I think you are correct here and the fact that the stablisor is still intact on the port side with the gash starting some way behind it and on the same level, suggests that the ship sharply veared to starboard to try to miss something. Thus hitting the boulder with a sideways scrape after the stablisor had cleared. For the captain to say that the ship hit an uncharted rock during a normal forward drive is preposterous as in that case the stablisor would have been snapped off first.

 

This particular ship has two azimuthing pods instead of the old fashioned propellors. This quite new concept allows sudden navigational turns by turning both pods in the same direction at full power or shifting one pod into reverse mode (port in this case) and the other at full power. This then is similar to spinning on a sixpence/dime/cent and when used correctly - (always a manual procedure) can get a vessel out of danger when the old system could not have done. However, applied incorrectly could lead to disaster! There are many other benefits to the azimuthing pod system and most, if not all, ships built these days have them.

 

 

I hope that I have figured out the quote system, because this question is for Peterhof.

 

There are two theories about the Concordia. One is that she has straight propellers, and the other is that she has azipods.

 

Can anyone for certain tell me which style of propulsion the Concordia actually has??

 

And then the second question, could have the stabilizer been imployed after hitting the rock, to try to stabilize the list, at least while there was forward motion?

 

Rick

[maddie2312]

BBC news are now saying that Italy is looking to declare a state of emergency so they can unlock Italian and European Union funds incase they need them if there is an enviromental disaster. They also mentioned they believe fuel to be in 17 different compartments.

On the matter of the "fly past" they have said that the island of Giglio last August asked for a sail past during a festival and permission was granted for this one off at a distance of no closer than 500 metres. They believe this Captain was trying to replicate this but with no permission,

 

Shocking indeed!

[ANGSWIN]

After this disaster, who would trust to staff to bring children to the lifeboats from a ship-sponsored activty?

 

As a mom, this was my greatest fear during our Costa Atlantica cruise. However, my 7 year old loved being at the Squok Kids Club and would attend for several hours a day.

 

I haven't heard. Are there any children on the list of people who are still missing?