Packed Italian court as captain in Concordia disaster hears evidence

Table Of Content

• Diving Into the Depths: The Sinking of Costa Concordia
• Rock And A Hard Place: What To Do With Concordia
• Captain of Ship That Capsized Off Italy in ’12 Is Convicted
• Italy's giant cruise wreck begins final voyage as survivors look on
• Key players: Who’s who at Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial
• Cruise Ship's Salvage A Wreck For Italian Island
• Trials

The sunken cruise ship, a convergence of human tragedy and ecological peril, has become an inadvertent monument to both. Schettino faces multiple manslaughter charges as well as charges of causing the accident and abandoning ship. He was released this week from house arrest, and in his first TV interview, he blamed his junior officers. Six months after one of the biggest passenger shipwrecks in recent history, relatives of the dead attended a memorial service Friday near the site of the disaster. Dubbed Italy's "most hated man" by the Italian media after the disaster, he found himself in hot water again on Tuesday after photographs emerged of him partying on the island of Ischia while the final preparations were being made to tow away the wreck.

Diving Into the Depths: The Sinking of Costa Concordia

Prosecutors blamed a delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. Through the confusion, the captain somehow made it into a lifeboat before everyone else had made it off. GIGLIO PORTO, Italy — The curvy granite rocks of the Tuscan island of Giglio lay bare in the winter sun, no longer hidden by the ominous, stricken cruise liner that ran aground in the turquoise waters of this marine sanctuary ten years ago. Following the conclusion of the righting operation, the ship was kept on the platform while further inspections were made and the starboard sponsons attached. All passengers and crew were tested for coronavirus and mask-wearing is mandatory throughout the trip.

Rock And A Hard Place: What To Do With Concordia

Alaska resident Nate Lukes was with his wife, Cary, and their four daughters aboard the ship and remembers the chaos that ensued as the ship started to sink. Ten years after the deadly Costa Concordia cruise line disaster in Italy, survivors still vividly remember scenes of chaos they say were like something straight out of the movie "Titanic." His firm, part of the US Carnival group, returned to the ocean again last September, limiting calls to Italian ports, only to suspend operations again in December. "A year and a half without going anywhere is a long time. It was about time we set off again for the sea, the atmosphere, the views. We've been missing all that," said Jean-Pierre Faux, a 74-year-old pensioner from Belgium holidaying with his wife Martine. Passengers boarded a little hesitantly at first after completing their battery of health tests before settling down in the knowledge that they could finally begin their holiday. The cruise industry has been smashed by the pandemic, suffering a shortfall of 64 billion euros and shedding 518,000 jobs between just mid-March and September last year, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

Captain of Ship That Capsized Off Italy in ’12 Is Convicted

The Costa Concordia Sinking: Inside the Epic Fight for Survival - Vanity Fair

The Costa Concordia Sinking: Inside the Epic Fight for Survival.

Posted: Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMT [source]

"And we're dealing with 60,000 tons of weight, on rocks right on an exposed parts of island." In the next few days, Schettino, the eight other people accused, and the many survivors and families of victims, will learn if he will face charges over the deaths of 32 people after his ship run aground off Giglio island on Jan. 13. "I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after," he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats. It will also honour the 4,200 survivors and the residents of Giglio who took in passengers and crew, offering clothes and shelter until passengers could return to the mainland. “I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after,” he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats. The lifeboats wouldn't drop down because the ship was tilted on its side, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded on the side of the ship for hours in the cold.

Italy's giant cruise wreck begins final voyage as survivors look on

“It was a night that, in addition to being a tragedy, had a beautiful side because the response of the people was a spontaneous gesture that was appreciated around the world,” Ortelli said. Ananias and her family declined Costa’s initial $14,500 compensation offered to each passenger and sued Costa, a unit of U.S.-based Carnival Corp., to try to cover the cost of their medical bills and therapy for the post-traumatic stress they have suffered. But after eight years in the U.S. and then Italian court system, they lost their case. A decade after that harrowing night, the survivors are grateful to have made it out alive.

Inside the Rotting Wreck of the Costa Concordia - Outside

Inside the Rotting Wreck of the Costa Concordia.

Posted: Fri, 29 Jan 2016 08:00:00 GMT [source]

“We are losing sight of the victims of this tragedy, but they could line the pockets of the shamed captain,” the member said. “We are not going to save lives if we don’t change the standards in the whole industry, not only of this particular captain,” he added. "It was just said in court that musicians on board had more safety training than other crew members," Eaves told NBC. Monday’s hearing was the first and most important in a preliminary trial, aimed at establishing who should be indicted over the disaster.

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Their stories endure not as an impersonal tally but as intimate portraits of lives intertwined with mine. They are reminders that there is a beloved child, a cherished spouse, a valued colleague behind every number—the absence of whom leaves an irreplaceable void. Thus, I commit to ensuring that while the Costa Concordia may have sunk, the souls aboard will never fade into the forgotten depths. "To wake up every morning and to see this thing, from my point of view, it is terrible," says Matteo Bellomo, who has had a second home on Giglio for 50 years. "Every time you look at it, you think to the people there, and people that died, and to the two people they have not found."

Cruise Ship's Salvage A Wreck For Italian Island

“The sooner we can resolve it, the sooner the victims can get on with their lives, they can put this behind them. We are anxious to do that, but not so anxious to compromise on our will to change the industry for better standards,” John Arthur Eaves, Jr., an Alabama-based lawyer representing several American survivors of the disaster, told NBC News. Lazaro joined fellow survivors in throwing flowers into the sea at the shipwreck site in a solemn ceremony on Tuesday. There are going to be substantial risks before the Costa Concordia is gone for good, however.

The Costa Concordia sailed too close to the island of Giglio, ultimately striking a reef and causing the ship to start taking on water. The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia was owned by Costa Cruises, an Italian cruise line company. Her maiden voyage in July 2006 foreshadowed what was meant to be a long-standing Mediterranean staple. The Costa Concordia, a haven of lavishness with sumptuous offerings, including four swimming pools, a casino, and a colossal spa, set the gold standard for luxury cruising. The seven-day Mediterranean sojourns quickly became iconic, treating guests to the enchanting shores of Italy, France, and Spain. This ship sank in 2012, but the echoes of the Costa Concordia tragedy still resonate powerfully.

The severity of the ship’s tilt demanded adaptability and courage, cornerstones of the human spirit in the face of calamity. Approximately 300 souls remained onboard as the last crew detached, spurring a flurry of survival strategies, including climbing down ladders in a landscape where decks had transformed into walls. In my carnal pursuit of sharing this catastrophe’s account, I am reminded of how closely we skirt the edges between safety and danger and the immeasurable responsibility of those commanding such grand vessels.

The doomed ship struck rocks just off the Mediterranean island on the night of January 13 with 4,229 people from 70 countries on board, just as many passengers were sitting down for supper on the first night of their cruise. The anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of virus outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. Italy will mark the 10th anniversary of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster on Thursday with a daylong commemoration.

The Costa Concordia tragedy occurred on January 13, 2012, when the cruise liner struck a reef and began to sink. The echoes of the catastrophe stretch into the present, as each anniversary passes with the gravity of loss undiminished. Mindful of the human cost, it’s not just about recounting the Costa Concordia deaths but also about preserving the memory of each person who perished in the dark waters of that fateful night. The Costa Concordia wreck site resonates with a quiet that belies the intense dramas once played out on its decks. What remains is a powerful testament to humanity’s respect for nature in the face of disruptive events. Submerged in the Mediterranean’s depths, the vessel no longer traverses the world’s waters but has embarked on an eternal, anchored existence.

Ships from smaller cruise companies have reportedly been spotted parked near tourist destinations including Brindisi, Catania, and Livorno. Looking back at the events, the Italian cruise ship that sank displayed a spectrum of human experiences—from oversight, haste, and fear to valor, altruism, and fortitude. The aftermath did not just account for the salvage and inquiry but also witnessed sweeping reforms aimed at fortifying maritime protocols. As a result, the cruise ship that sank in Italy in 2012 has been a catalyst for revised safety standards that Carnival and other cruise lines have diligently implemented, often surpassing the basics to ensure such catastrophes are not repeated.

Schettino is accused of manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship while passengers and crew were still aboard. GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy (AFP) - Italy's Costa Concordia will set sail on its final voyage on Wednesday as survivors look on, two and a half years after the luxury cruise ship crashed and sank in a nighttime disaster that left 32 people dead. NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella caught up with a group of survivors on TODAY Wednesday, a decade after they escaped a maritime disaster that claimed the lives of 32 people. The Italian cruise ship ran aground off the tiny Italian island of Giglio after striking an underground rock and capsizing. An investigation focused on shortcomings in the procedures followed by Costa Concordia's crew and the actions of her captain, Francesco Schettino, who left the ship prematurely. He left about 300 passengers on board the sinking vessel, most of whom were rescued by helicopter or motorboats in the area.