cruise ship disaster 2012

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

The Costa Concordia Disaster: How Human Error Made It Worse

By: Becky Little

Updated: August 10, 2023 | Original: June 23, 2021

Many famous naval disasters happen far out at sea, but on January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia wrecked just off the coast of an Italian island in relatively shallow water. The avoidable disaster killed 32 people and seriously injured many others, and left investigators wondering: Why was the luxury cruise ship sailing so close to the shore in the first place?

During the ensuing trial, prosecutors came up with a tabloid-ready explanation : The married ship captain had sailed it so close to the island to impress a much younger Moldovan dancer with whom he was having an affair.

5 Maritime Disasters You Might Not Know About

Find out about some of history’s deadliest—and lesser‑known—shipwrecks.

Titanic by the Numbers: From Construction to Disaster to Discovery

More than just facts and figures, these statistics highlight the massive scale of Titanic's ambition—and of its tragic sinking.

Whether or not Captain Francesco Schettino was trying to impress his girlfriend is debatable. (Schettino insisted the ship sailed close to shore to salute other mariners and give passengers a good view.) But whatever the reason for getting too close, the Italian courts found the captain, four crew members and one official from the ship’s company, Costa Crociere (part of Carnival Corporation), to be at fault for causing the disaster and preventing a safe evacuation. The wreck was not the fault of unexpected weather or ship malfunction—it was a disaster caused entirely by a series of human errors.

“At any time when you have an incident similar to Concordia, there is never…a single causal factor,” says Brad Schoenwald, a senior marine inspector at the United States Coast Guard. “It is generally a sequence of events, things that line up in a bad way that ultimately create that incident.”

Wrecking Near the Shore

The Concordia was supposed to take passengers on a seven-day Italian cruise from Civitavecchia to Savona. But when it deviated from its planned path to sail closer to the island of Giglio, the ship struck a reef known as the Scole Rocks. The impact damaged the ship, allowing water to seep in and putting the 4,229 people on board in danger.

Sailing close to shore to give passengers a nice view or salute other sailors is known as a “sail-by,” and it’s unclear how often cruise ships perform these maneuvers. Some consider them to be dangerous deviations from planned routes. In its investigative report on the 2012 disaster, Italy’s Ministry of Infrastructures and Transports found that the Concordia “was sailing too close to the coastline, in a poorly lit shore area…at an unsafe distance at night time and at high speed (15.5 kts).”

In his trial, Captain Schettino blamed the shipwreck on Helmsman Jacob Rusli Bin, who he claimed reacted incorrectly to his order; and argued that if the helmsman had reacted correctly and quickly, the ship wouldn’t have wrecked. However, an Italian naval admiral testified in court that even though the helmsman was late in executing the captain’s orders, “the crash would’ve happened anyway.” (The helmsman was one of the four crew members convicted in court for contributing to the disaster.)

A Questionable Evacuation

Evidence introduced in Schettino’s trial suggests that the safety of his passengers and crew wasn’t his number one priority as he assessed the damage to the Concordia. The impact and water leakage caused an electrical blackout on the ship, and a recorded phone call with Costa Crociere’s crisis coordinator, Roberto Ferrarini, shows he tried to downplay and cover up his actions by saying the blackout was what actually caused the accident.

“I have made a mess and practically the whole ship is flooding,” Schettino told Ferrarini while the ship was sinking. “What should I say to the media?… To the port authorities I have said that we had…a blackout.” (Ferrarini was later convicted for contributing to the disaster by delaying rescue operations.)

Schettino also didn’t immediately alert the Italian Search and Rescue Authority about the accident. The impact on the Scole Rocks occurred at about 9:45 p.m. local time, and the first person to contact rescue officials about the ship was someone on the shore, according to the investigative report. Search and Rescue contacted the ship a few minutes after 10:00 p.m., but Schettino didn’t tell them what had happened for about 20 more minutes.

A little more than an hour after impact, the crew began to evacuate the ship. But the report noted that some passengers testified that they didn’t hear the alarm to proceed to the lifeboats. Evacuation was made even more chaotic by the ship listing so far to starboard, making walking inside very difficult and lowering the lifeboats on one side, near to impossible. Making things worse, the crew had dropped the anchor incorrectly, causing the ship to flop over even more dramatically.

Through the confusion, the captain somehow made it into a lifeboat before everyone else had made it off. A coast guard member angrily told him on the phone to “Get back on board, damn it!” —a recorded sound bite that turned into a T-shirt slogan in Italy.

Schettino argued that he fell into a lifeboat because of how the ship was listing to one side, but this argument proved unconvincing. In 2015, a court found Schettino guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship before passengers and crew were evacuated and lying to authorities about the disaster. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. In addition to Schettino, Ferrarini and Rusli Bin, the other people who received convictions for their role in the disaster were Cabin Service Director Manrico Giampedroni, First Officer Ciro Ambrosio and Third Officer Silvia Coronica.

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

'We all suffer from PTSD': 10 years after the Costa Concordia cruise disaster, memories remain

GIGLIO, Italy — Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio. But for the passengers on board and the residents who welcomed them ashore, the memories of that harrowing, freezing night remain vividly etched into their minds.

The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull. The blackout after the ship's engine room flooded and its generators failed. The final mad scramble to evacuate the listing liner and then the extraordinary generosity of Giglio islanders who offered shoes, sweatshirts and shelter until the sun rose and passengers were ferried to the mainland.

Italy on Thursday is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration that will end with a candlelit vigil near the moment the ship hit the reef: 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2012. The events will honor the 32 people who died that night, the 4,200 survivors, but also the residents of Giglio, who took in passengers and crew and then lived with the Concordia's wrecked carcass off their shore for another two years until it was righted and hauled away for scrap.

► CDC travel guidance: CDC warns 'avoid cruise travel' after more than 5,000 COVID cases in two weeks amid omicron

“For us islanders, when we remember some event, we always refer to whether it was before or after the Concordia,” said Matteo Coppa, who was 23 and fishing on the jetty when the darkened Concordia listed toward shore and then collapsed onto its side in the water.

“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 sad anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of COVID-19 outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month  warned people across-the-board not to go on cruises, regardless of their vaccination status, because of the risks of infection.

► 'We found out while we were flying': Last-minute cruise cancellations leave travelers scrambling

► 'The Disney magic is gone' ... or is it?: Longtime fans weigh in on changes at Disney World

'We all suffer from PTSD'

For Concordia survivor Georgia Ananias, the COVID-19 infections are just the latest evidence that passenger safety still isn’t a top priority for the cruise ship industry. Passengers aboard the Concordia were largely left on their own to find life jackets and a functioning lifeboat after the captain steered the ship close too shore in a stunt. He then delayed an evacuation order until it was too late, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was listing too heavily.

“I always said this will not define me, but you have no choice," Ananias said in an interview from her home in Los Angeles, Calif. “We all suffer from PTSD. We had a lot of guilt that we survived and 32 other people died.”

Prosecutors blamed the delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. The captain, Francesco Schettino, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all the passengers and crew had evacuated.

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.

“I think people need to be aware that when you go on a cruise, that if there is a problem, you will not have the justice that you may be used to in the country in which you are living,” said Ananias, who went onto become a top official in the International Cruise Victims association, an advocacy group that lobbies to improve safety aboard ships and increase transparency and accountability in the industry.

Costa didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on the anniversary.

► Royal Caribbean cancels sailings: Pushes back restart on several ships over COVID

'We did something incredible'

Cruise Lines International Association, the world’s largest cruise industry trade association, stressed in a statement to The Associated Press that passenger and crew safety was the industry's top priority, and that cruising remains one of the safest vacation experiences available.

“Our thoughts continue to be with the victims of the Concordia tragedy and their families on this sad anniversary," CLIA said. It said it has worked over the past 10 years with the International Maritime Organization and the maritime industry to “drive a safety culture that is based on continuous improvement."

For Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli, the memories of that night run the gamut: the horror of seeing the capsized ship, the scramble to coordinate rescue services on shore, the recovery of the first bodies and then the pride that islanders rose to the occasion to tend to the survivors.

► Cruising during COVID-19: Cancellation, refund policies vary by cruise line

Ortelli was later on hand when, in September 2013, the 115,000-ton, 1,000-foot long cruise ship was righted vertical off its seabed graveyard in an extraordinary feat of engineering. But the night of the disaster, a Friday the 13th, remains seared in his memory.

“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.

It seemed the natural thing to do at the time. “But then we realized that on that night, in just a few hours, we did something incredible.”

Best of Walmart’s Labor Day sale: Up to 78% off a knife set, Levi’s and more

• Share this —

• Watch Full Episodes
• Read With Jenna
• Inspirational
• Relationships
• TODAY Table
• Newsletters
• Start TODAY
• Shop TODAY Awards
• Citi Concert Series
• Listen All Day

Follow today

More Brands

• On The Show
• TODAY Plaza

10 years later, Costa Concordia survivors share their stories from doomed cruise ship

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."

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.

"I think it’s the panic, the feeling of panic, is what’s carried through over 10 years," Ian Donoff, who was on the cruise with his wife Janice for their honeymoon, told Cobiella. "And it’s just as strong now."

More than 4,000 passengers and crew were on board when the ship crashed into rocks in the dark in the Mediterranean Sea, sending seawater rushing into the vessel as people scrambled for their lives.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, had been performing a sail-past salute of Giglio when he steered the ship too close to the island and hit the jagged reef, opening a 230-foot gash in the side of the cruise liner.

Passengers struggled to escape in the darkness, clambering to get to the life boats. 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.

"There was really a melee there is the best way to describe it," he told Cobiella. "It's very similar to the movie 'Titanic.' People were jumping onto the top of the lifeboats and pushing down women and children to try to get to them."

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. People were left to clamber down a rope ladder over a distance equivalent to 11 stories.

"Everybody was rushing for the lifeboats," Nate Lukes said. "I felt like (my daughters) were going to get trampled, and putting my arms around them and just holding them together and letting the sea of people go by us."

Schettino was convicted of multiple manslaughter as well as abandoning ship after leaving before all the passengers had reached safety. He is now serving a 16-year prison sentence .

It took nearly two years for the damaged ship to be raised from its side before it was towed away to be scrapped.

The calamity caused changes in the cruise industry like carrying more lifejackets and holding emergency drills before leaving port.

A decade after that harrowing night, the survivors are grateful to have made it out alive. None of the survivors who spoke with Cobiella have been on a cruise since that day.

"I said that if we survive this, then our marriage will have to survive forever," Ian Donoff said.

Scott Stump is a trending reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY (which you should subscribe to here! ) that brings the day's news, health tips, parenting stories, recipes and a daily delight right to your inbox. He has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing features and news for pop culture, parents, politics, health, style, food and pretty much everything else. 

North Carolina hiker’s death is believed to the 6th in a month at Grand Canyon National Park

All about Tim Walz's kids: Meet Hope and Gus

Kamala Harris does have kids: Meet her two stepchildren, Cole and Ella

Caitlin Clark got the giggles after her teammate’s double entendre at a press conference

Caitlin Clark is in her first season in the WNBA. How to watch her next game

Ex-detective accused of strangling pregnant woman he abused as teen and trying to make death look like suicide

See what happened when Simone Biles and Caitlin Clark met after Clark made WNBA history

Who is Connor Stalions? About the Michigan sign stealer's alleged actions did and where he is now

Ilona Maher stuns in her first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover

Pop culture, who is the michigan sign stealer connor stalions, and what did he do.

10 years later, Costa Concordia disaster is still vivid for survivors

• Copy Link URL Copied!

Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio . But for the passengers on board and the residents who welcomed them ashore, the memories of that harrowing, freezing night remain vividly etched into their minds.

The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull. The blackout after the ship’s engine room flooded and its generators failed. The final mad scramble to evacuate the listing liner and then the extraordinary generosity of Giglio islanders who offered shoes, sweatshirts and shelter until the sun rose and passengers were ferried to the mainland.

Italy on Thursday is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration that will end with a candlelit vigil near the moment the ship hit the reef: 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2012. The events will honor the 32 people who died that night, the 4,200 survivors, but also the residents of Giglio, who took in passengers and crew and then lived with the Concordia’s wrecked carcass off their shore for another two years until it was righted and hauled away for scrap.

“For us islanders, when we remember some event, we always refer to whether it was before or after the Concordia,” said Matteo Coppa, who was 23 and fishing on the jetty when the darkened Concordia listed toward shore and then collapsed onto its side in the water.

“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 sad anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of COVID-19 outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month warned people across-the-board not to go on cruises , regardless of their vaccination status, because of the risks of infection.

A dozen passengers on cruise ship test positive for coronavirus

The passengers, whose infections were found through random testing, were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, according to the Port of San Francisco.

Jan. 7, 2022

For Concordia survivor Georgia Ananias, the COVID-19 infections are just the latest evidence that passenger safety still isn’t a top priority for the cruise ship industry. Passengers aboard the Concordia were largely left on their own to find life jackets and a functioning lifeboat after the captain steered the ship close too shore in a stunt. He then delayed an evacuation order until it was too late, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was listing too heavily.

“I always said this will not define me, but you have no choice,” Ananias said in an interview from her home in Los Angeles. “We all suffer from PTSD. We had a lot of guilt that we survived and 32 other people died.”

Prosecutors blamed the delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. The captain, Francesco Schettino, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all the passengers and crew had evacuated.

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.

“I think people need to be aware that when you go on a cruise, that if there is a problem, you will not have the justice that you may be used to in the country in which you are living,” said Ananias, who went onto become a top official in the International Cruise Victims association, an advocacy group that lobbies to improve safety aboard ships and increase transparency and accountability in the industry.

Costa didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on the anniversary.

Cruise Lines International Assn., the world’s largest cruise industry trade association, stressed in a statement to the Associated Press that passenger and crew safety were the industry’s top priority, and that cruising remains one of the safest vacation experiences available.

“Our thoughts continue to be with the victims of the Concordia tragedy and their families on this sad anniversary,” CLIA said. It said it has worked over the past 10 years with the International Maritime Organization and the maritime industry to “drive a safety culture that is based on continuous improvement.”

For Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli, the memories of that night run the gamut: the horror of seeing the capsized ship, the scramble to coordinate rescue services on shore, the recovery of the first bodies and then the pride that islanders rose to the occasion to tend to the survivors.

Ortelli was later on hand when, in September 2013, the 115,000-ton, 1,000-foot long cruise ship was righted vertical off its seabed graveyard in an extraordinary feat of engineering. But the night of the disaster, a Friday the 13th, remains seared in his memory.

“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.

It seemed the natural thing to do at the time. “But then we realized that on that night, in just a few hours, we did something incredible.”

More to Read

Body of British tech magnate Mike Lynch is among those recovered from yacht wreckage, officials say

Aug. 22, 2024

Divers find 4 bodies during search of superyacht wreckage after it sank off Sicily, 2 more remain

Aug. 21, 2024

Deep seas and tight spaces impede search for 6 missing after yacht sinks off Sicily

Aug. 20, 2024

Sign up for Essential California

The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

Column: Trump asks why Harris hasn’t done all she’s promised. The answer: Because she’s VICE president

Column: Debate aside, every day is an open mic day for Trump

FAA refers 43 reported abusive, unruly plane passengers to FBI, even as incidents fall from COVID highs

Trump’s vow to fire thousands of ‘crooked’ federal workers prompts alarm

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Cruise Ship's Salvage A Wreck For Italian Island

Sylvia Poggioli

Work has begun to remove the tons of rocky reef embedded into the Concordia cruise ship's hull, off Giglio Island in Italy. The plan is to eventually tow the wreck away from the island in one piece. Gregorio Borgia/AP hide caption

Work has begun to remove the tons of rocky reef embedded into the Concordia cruise ship's hull, off Giglio Island in Italy. The plan is to eventually tow the wreck away from the island in one piece.

Last January, the captain of the Italian mega-cruise ship Costa Concordia committed an apparent act of maritime bravado a few yards from the shore of a Tuscan island. Thirty people were killed, and two are still missing.

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.

The solemn notes of Mozart's Requiem echoed through the small church of Saints Lorenzo and Mamiliano on the island of Giglio.

It was the same church that sheltered many of the 4,200 passengers and crew members of the Costa Concordia on a cold night in January.

Related NPR Stories

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli spends summers in the Tuscan archipelago where the Costa Concordia grounded.

For Reporter, Cruise Ship Disaster Is A Local Story

The two-way, americans' bodies identified from costa concordia shipwreck, rock and a hard place: what to do with concordia, photos: images from the disaster.

Captain Blames His Crew

On that night, in an effort to entertain the passengers with a close-up view of the island, Capt. Francesco Schettino accidentally rammed the vessel into a rocky reef just a few dozen yards from shore.

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.

"This was a banal accident in which, fate would have it, there was a breakdown in communication between people. And this created misunderstandings and anger," Schettino said. "It was as if there had been a breakdown in people's heads as well as in the instruments."

Schettino's remarks infuriated relatives of the dead as well as Giglio's mayor, Sergio Ortelli.

"A captain cannot shift blame onto his officers," he said. "And a ship with more than 4,000 people on board cannot be put under the command of such an amateur."

Elio Vincenzi was even more dismissive of the captain. His wife, Maria Grazia, is still listed among the missing. "It was not the sea that took my wife away," he said. "It was human stupidity."

An Economic Salvage Operation

The Costa Concordia still lies on its side 100 yards from the harbor. A huge hunk of granite weighing some 80 tons is embedded in the hull of the marooned ship. Once removed, it will be used as a memorial for the dead.

The mammoth vessel is an eyesore and oppressive reminder of tragedy for local residents.

Giglio Island's nature-loving tourists have been replaced by day-trippers who want a look at the massive wreck of the Costa Concordia. Gregorio Borgia/AP hide caption

Giglio Island's nature-loving tourists have been replaced by day-trippers who want a look at the massive wreck of the Costa Concordia.

"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."

Giglio Island has long been cherished as a hidden paradise in the Tuscan archipelago.

It's in Europe's biggest marine sanctuary, with crystal-clear waters rich in flora and fauna. Now, the marooned hulk dominates the Giglio skyline and has become a sinister attraction of what some call disaster tourism — drawing hundreds of gawking tourists who snap away at the photo opportunity.

The shipwreck has altered the local economy; Mayor Ortelli says tourism income has dropped by 50 percent. Traditional nature lovers who came for a week or more have been replaced by day-trippers.

Islanders can't wait to see the ship's removal, but it's an enormous salvage operation. The Costa Concordia is two-and-a-half football fields long, says Nick Sloane, the senior salvage master for the project. "And we're dealing with 60,000 tons of weight, on rocks right on an exposed parts of island."

Sloane says the priority is to remove the ship in one piece in order to minimize impact on the environment. Weather permitting, the Costa Concordia should be refloated and towed to a mainland port by early next year.

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Costa Cruises statements on the Concordia ship disaster

Sunday 15 january.

Time 8.15 pm (CET)

We at Costa Cruises are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected and offer the determined victims' families her heartfelt condolences.

Over the past 48 hours, more than 1,100 Costa employees have been working tirelessly in the wake of this terrible event. We are working closely with the authorities to support ongoing search and rescue operations, and are focusing on ensuring that all guests and crewmembers return home safely.

Our immediate priority is to account for all passengers and crew and to secure the vessel to ensure that there are no environmental impacts. We have engaged the services of a worldwide leader specialized salvage company to develop an action plan and help establish a protection perimeter around the ship. It should be noted that the Prosecutor in charge has seized the ship and the DVR-- so called "black box" containing all navigation data and the vessel can be accessed by Costa only with permission from the authorities.

We are working with investigators to find out precisely what went wrong aboard the Costa Concordia . While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship's Master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences. The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the Captain's judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures. We are aware that the lead Prosecutor has levelled serious accusations against the ship's Captain, who joined Costa Crociere in 2002 as a Safety Officer and was appointed Captain in 2006, after acting as Staff Captain as well. As all Costa Masters, he has been constantly trained passing all tests. In light of these accusations and the continuing investigation, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.

As we are learning more about the event itself and the evacuation, however, it is becoming clear that the crew of the Costa Concordia acted bravely and swiftly to help evacuate more than 4,000 individuals during a very challenging situation. We are very grateful for all they have done.

Costa is committed to ensuring that no such incident ever occurs again. Our number one priority is always the safety and security of our guests and crew and we comply with all safety regulations. (See background on Costa safety below).

Background on Costa's commitment to safety

Costa complies very strictly with all safety regulations and our personnel are committed, first and foremost, to guest safety and security.

All crew members hold a BST (Basic Safety Training) certificate and are trained and prepared to emergency management and to assist passengers abandoning the ship with numerous drills. Roles, responsibilities and duties are clearly assigned to all crew members. Every two weeks all crewmembers perform a ship evacuation simulation. A lifeboat and evacuation drill for all guests is conducted within 24 hours of embarking, as required by law. Costa has a computerised system which ensures all passengers undergo this drill.

The skills of Costa crew are periodically tested by Coastguard authorities and an independent classification organization as per SMS (Safety Management Systems) requirements.

There are lifeboats and jackets on board in excess of the number required for all passengers and crew. Lifeboats are equipped with food and water supplies, first aid kits and communication and signalling equipment. All life-saving appliances are aligned to international standards and are subject to close, regular inspection by shipboard personnel and certification authorities. All Costa ships are certified by RINA and have been built to the highest standards and technologies.

Saturday, January 14 2012

Time 5.30 pm (CET)

"I want to express our deep sorrow for this terrible tragedy that devastates us" - said Gianni Onorato President Costa Crociere - "I am here only now because, as you will understand, I have been from the down until now on the Isola del Giglio to be close to the rescue operations.

First at all, I would like to thank all the authorities, law enforcement and volunteers who made all efforts to help and assist our Guests involved in this terrible event."

We are not at this time able to provide an answer to all the questions, because the competent authority are trying with our cooperative efforts to understand the reasons for this incident.

On the basis of the first evidences, still preliminary the ship Costa Concordia under the command of the Master Francesco Schettino was regularly sailing from Civitavecchia to Savona, when suddenly the ship stroked a rock.

The Master who was on the bridge at that time, understood the severity of the situation immediately performed a maneuver aimed to secure Guests and crew, and started the security procedures in order to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation.

Unfortunately, this operation was complicated as result of a sudden tilt of the ship that has made difficult the disembarkation.

Thanks to the commitment of all forces coordinated by the Coast Guard, from that moment on, rescue operations have been further strengthened.

From the first time the company mobilized all its resources ashore to put in to assist our guests and crew members and prevent possible environmental impacts.

Time 12.00 pm (CET)

The Costa Concordia accident happened tonight it's a tragedy that deeply shocked our company.

Our first thought goes to the victims and we would like to express our deepest condolences to their families and friends.

We're close to the people who have been injured and we're following their progress.

All our efforts are now concentrated in assisting the guests and the crew who were on board, to bring them home as soon as possible.

The Costa Cruises customer service has already started contacting by phone all the guests who were supposed to board today in Savona and starting from tomorrow in the scheduled ports.

At the moment no changes have been planned to the schedule of the other Costa Cruises ships.

People looking for assistance can contact the call centre number 08453510552.

All the Costa Cruises people would like to thank from the deepest of their hearts the Guardia Costiera, the authorities and the citizens of the Giglio Island and of Porto Santo Stefano who helped and assisted the guests and the crew.

They also thank the doctors who are assisting the injured and anyone in need of assistance.

The Company is cooperating with the Authorities that are investigating on the accident.

Time 5.00 am (CET)

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. In this moment all our efforts are focused on the completion of the last emergency operations, besides providing assistance to the guests and the crew who were onboard in order to have them going back home as soon as possible. The emergency procedures started promptly to evacuate the ship. The slope, gradually taken over by the ship, made the evacuation extremely difficult. We would like to express our profound gratitude to the Coast Guard and all the forces co-ordinated by the Coast Guard, including the authorities and citizens of the island "Isola del Giglio", who have been involved in the rescue and assistance to guests and crew members. The company will fully co-operate with the relevant Authorities in order to determine the causes of what happened.

Time 1.00 am (CET)

Costa Cruises confirms the evacuation of about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members on board of the Costa Concordia. An incident occured near the island 'Isola del Giglio' of the coast of Italy . The evacuation started promptly, but the position of the ship has worsened, making it more complicated to complete the last part of the evacuation. At this moment, the cause of the incident cannot yet be confirmed. The Company is currently working with the highest commitment to provide all the needed assistance. The Costa Concordia was sailing across the Mediterranean Sea, starting from Civitavecchia with scheduled calls to Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo. About 1.000 passengers of Italian nationality were onboard, as well as more of 500 Germans, about 160 French and about 1.000 crew members.

The Guests had to embark today in Savona and in subsequent ports will be contacted directly by Costa Cruises.

• Costa Concordia

Most viewed

• Paralympics
• TV & Film
• Say Maaate to a Mate
• First Impressions - The Game
• Daily Ladness
• Citizen Reef

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories , we're happy to send you some reminders

Click ' OK ' then ' Allow ' to enable notifications

Tragic story of cruise ship disaster which left 33 passengers dead

The 2012 disaster left 33 passengers and crew members dead.

Joshua Nair

In 2012, a cruise ship disaster killed 33 of its passengers and crew members, with the captain's actions during the disaster leading to an investigation.

The disaster occurred just off the west coast of Italy , with the cruise ship on one of its routine voyages.

The Costa Concordia was an Italian cruise ship that, when launched in 2005, was Italy's longest cruise ship at a length of 290 metres.

Owned by Costa Crociere, it has a passenger capacity of 3,780, in comparison to the Titanic , which was only 269 metres long with a capacity of 2,435 passengers.

Known for its numerous luxuries, such as four swimming pools, a casino and reportedly the largest ever spa on a ship.

It took its maiden voyage in July 2006, a seven-day trip around the Mediterranean Sea with stops in Italy, France and Spain, which would go on to become its standard route.

It travelled along this route for the next five and a half years.

On 13 January 2012, the Concordia disembarked from Civitavecchia, Italy, with 1,023 crew members and 3,206 passengers aboard.

It approached Giglio Island hours later, deviating from its regular course, moving closer to the island for a maritime 'salute' , where it would sound its horn.

However, a rock formation was noticed in the ship's path and Captain Francesco Schettino ordered a change in course, but due to language issues with the Indonesian helmsman, the ship was steered in the opposite direction.

Taking 13 seconds to correct the manoeuvre, the boat's bow swung clear but the stern caught the reef at 9:45pm, leaving a 53 metre tear in the port's left side.

Several areas of the boat, including the engine room, were flooded with the ship losing power.

As the engines and rudder stopped functioning, the ship couldn't be steered, but wind and the rudder's position steered the boat toward the island.

The captain downplayed the damage to the Italian coastguard at 10:14pm, noting that the ship only had a blackout, but 10 minutes later, he admitted that the ship was taking on water.

At 10:39pm, the first rescue vessel arrived, and just 15 minutes later, the captain ordered the ship be abandoned - even though reports say that lifeboats had been launched.

At 11:20pm, Schettino left the bridge and abandoned ship, later claiming that he fell of the ship and landed in a lifeboat.

13 minutes after this, the final crew member departed the bridge, despite the fact that 300 people were still on the sinking ship.

At 12:40 am, a coast guard called Schettino, who was in a lifeboat with other officers, and when ordered to return and oversee the evacuation, he refused.

Luckily, rescue operations has descended onto the scene and included 25 patrol boats, 14 merchant vessels and several helicopters.

By morning, 4,194 people had been evacuated to Giglio Island, with divers saving three more from inside the ship the following day.

Unfortunately, 32 people died in the disaster, and one member of the rescue team too, though the last body of a passenger wasn't recovered until November 2014.

Schettino and members of his team were charged with multiple offences, including manslaughter, with Schettino eventually convicted on all charges and sentenced to more than 16 years in prison.

Topics:  Cruise Ship , Travel , World News , Crime

Joshua Nair is a journalist at LADbible. Born in Malaysia and raised in Dubai, he has always been interested in writing about a range of subjects, from sports to trending pop culture news. After graduating from Oxford Brookes University with a BA in Media, Journalism and Publishing, he got a job freelance writing for SPORTbible while working in marketing before landing a full-time role at LADbible. Unfortunately, he's unhealthily obsessed with Manchester United, which takes its toll on his mental and physical health. Daily.

@ joshnair10

• Cruise line offering free holidays for passengers aged between 18 and 26 but there's one huge catch
• Cruise ship traps all 1,500 passengers on board over travel issue
• Horrifying moment tourist captures cruise passenger falling to death from top deck
• Couple claim they were 'kicked off' two different cruise holidays due to husband's disability

Choose your content:

Lawyer explains chances of boss accepting four-day working week following new Government plans

Keir starmer's labour government is set to introduce the four-day working week idea right across the country.

Scientists discover 'treasure trove' at bottom of the ocean that could change the world

This new find could mean amazing things for our healthcare system.

Mum of teenage girl who tragically died after drinking Costa drink says one thing keeps her up at night

Abimbola duyile said her world has been 'turned upside down' since the death of her daughter hannah jacobs in february 2023.

Insane comparison shows terrifying difference of what happens when you vape compared to when you smoke

The video provided a gross insight into what goes on inside your body.

10 Other Horrifying Cruise Ship Disasters

When the Costa Concordia turned on its side Friday, the horror and destruction brought the dark side of the cruise industry to the forefront.

The worst of cruise ship disasters are incidents such as Costa Concordia, the Titanic or the S.S. Eastland, where there are fatalities. But rape, hijacking and deadly illnesses still plague trips today.

The infamous Titanic sunk in April 1912, killing more than 1,500 people

On its maiden voyage, the "unsinkable" Titanic met its end after colliding with an iceberg on the North Atlantic.

The ship plunged two miles to the bottom of the ocean, and killed more than 1,500 people.

The story has inspired novels, movies, and received mass-attention whenever memorabilia is found or survivors die.

Source: History.com

The S.S. Eastland tipped over while at port in Chicago in 1915, killing 800 people

Western Electric decided to host its fifth-annual employee picnic on the S.S. Eastland on the Chicago River in July 1915.

Know as "the speed queen of the Great Lakes," the ship was one of five excursion vessels that would transport Western Electric employees across Lake Michigan to Michigan City for the picnic.

With more than 2,500 passengers, including crew members, on board, the ship rolled over while still at dock. More than 800 people died in the incident, and 22 entire families perished.

Source: Eastlanddisaster.org

Seabourn Spirits was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2005

After sailing for more than a day without a single ship insight, suddenly two boats started firing at the Seabourn Spirits cruise liner off the cost of Somalia.

Pirates were attacking the ship.

The 302 passengers were all shuffled into the main ballroom, as the ship's crew attempted to create a wake in the boat's path to deter the pirates. Finally, they used an on-board loud acoustic bang to fool the pirates into thinking those aboard the cruise ship were firing back.

From March to November of 2005 more than 23 pirates hijackings were reported in that area.

Source: BBC News

The Norwegian Dawn was hit by a 70-foot wave in 2005, causing two injuries and the flooding of 62 cabins

While sailing between New York City and the Bahamas, The Norwegian Dawn was hit with a 70-foot wave that reached up to deck 10 of the ship. Sixty-two cabins were flooded, and two people suffered minor injuries.

Speaking of the aftermath Bill Tesauro told the Daily News :

“That’s when the captain announced that drinks are free all night,”  “But then there was another horrendous slap on the water.”

Source: msnbc.com

A young man fell off the side of a Royal Caribbean ship after being served too much to drink

In 2006, on board the Royal Caribbean ship, Mariner of The Seas, a young man named Daniel Dipiero went missing while on a cruise with his friends.

After have gone missing 18-hours prior, his family was alerted to his disappearance. Slowly, the pieces started coming together of what had really happened to Daniel.

Surveillance video arose of him walking alone, and falling over the side of the ship. But has the investigation went deeper, the FBI uncovered that one bar tender on board stopped serving Daniel drinks as he was severely intoxicated, but Daniel and his friends just left that area for another and continued to drink more.

After falling asleep on a lounge chair on the deck around midnight, Daniel woke up around 2:15 a.m. threw up over the railing, and then slid off the ship. The ship admitted to not monitoring its surveillance cameras, therefore never seeing what happened to Daniel while there was time to act.

Source: ABC News

A young woman claimed she was slipped a date rape drug aboard the Carnival Miracle

A young woman was casually drinking by the pool on board, when the a waiter presented her with her fourth drink that she did not order, according to her own report on International Cruise Victims' message board.

Her first three drinks were orange and pink, but this one was blue. She insisted she didn't order it, but the waiter persisted that she did and forgot. The woman decided to sip the drink casually, she wrote.

But after a few sips, she was already feeling funny and headed back to her cabin. She then became unsteady, started vomiting and blacked out, she said.

She wrote that she passed out on her bed and was awoken to a telephone call, where a male asked if she needed more towels in her room. Despite her weary state, the woman said "no," after being aware her room had already been cleaned.

The woman wrote on InternationalCruiseVictims.org :

"I am a responsible adult, fully aware of when I have had too much to drink. This was not the case here! I believe a date rape drug had been slipped into my last drink."

Source: InternationalCruiseVictims.org

A man died after allegedly catching Legionnaires' Disease on the M.S. Black Watch in 2007

After bacteria was discovered on a Fred Olsen Cruise in 2007, the trip ended early, according to the UK Telegraph.

But days after returning home, passenger Robert Heath felt ill. He was prescribed antibiotics but died in his home days after returning from the cruise.

An inquest later ruled that Fred Olsen Cruises exposed Heath to Legionnaires' disease, and found that the two doctors he saw did not prescribe adequate medication and failed to respond to his worsening condition, the Telegraph wrote.

The cruise line eventually paid out over $100,000 to settle the case.

Source: The UK Telegraph

350 people became ill aboard a Caribbean Cruise liner in Feb. 2010

More than 350 people began to began to vomit, complain of diarrhea and upset stomachs aboard a Caribbean cruise ship last year. Twenty-seven of the 850 crew members also complained of symptoms.

There were 1,800 total passengers.

It was unclear what caused the outbreak, though Norovirus is often blamed for the spreading of such symptoms in close quarters.

Source: The Oakland Press

The Carnival Splendor's engine room caught on fire in November 2010, causing passengers to cope with unflushed toilets, bags of vomit and only Spam to eat

The Splendor left for a seven-day cruise to Mexico, but when the engine room caught fire, the trip was shorten to three days of hell.

Besides the lack of power, the 3,299 passengers didn't have toilets for 13 hours, had only rations of food to eat because the refrigerators were useless and watched Navy helicopters fly in supplies.

The Daily News reported:

Passenger Lenora Chavez told CNN that plumbing was pushed to the limit and vomit bags were strewn about the corridors.

"It smells like a lot of people are throwing up," she said. "I can smell that a lot."

"It was supposed to be this beautiful cruise and it turned into a nightmare," newlywed passenger Sabrina Klinge texted to her father Paul Patrick. "Nothing like this was advertised in the brochure."

Source: Daily News

A 14-year-old girl said she was raped on the Carnival Freedom in February 2011

After having trouble falling asleep one night aboard the Carnival Freedom, 14-year-old Taylor traveled to an upper deck to write about her dream vacation in her journal. 

There, Taylor told ABC News , 30-year-old Carnival cruise line employee from Indonesia, who she recognized from him waiting on her family during meals, raped her in an employee-only room.

Taylor held her secret in for quite some time, but finally reported it after going home and feeling thoughts of suicide. She then knew she had to tell her mother.

Taylor told ABC News:

"At that point, I just really wanted to die," she said. "I was angry about that, that had happened to me. We're supposed to be on vacation. We're not supposed to have to worry about somebody trying to murder us or rape us."

In case you're still a sea lover...

DON'T MISS: The World's Most Luxurious Cruise Ships >

• Main content

The Worst Cruise Ship Disasters

• Movies That Make You Scared to Go in the Water
• If You Fall Off a Cruise Ship
• Cruises Ruined by Brutal Crimes
• People Who Fell Off Cruise Ships
• 21 Unnerving Photos That Made Us Want To Avoid ...
• The Creepiest Places In The Ocean
• Disappearances from Cruise Ships
• Mysterious Messages In Bottles
• People Who Served On Submarines Share Small Det...
• What It's Like to Be a Rescue & Recovery Diver
• 16 Terrifying Stories Where People Learn Exactl...
• 20 Horror Stories From Deep Sea Divers That Fil...
• The Creepiest Bodies Of Water From Around The W...
• Sailors And Ocean Enthusiasts Describe The Cree...
• Deep Sea Divers Describe The Creepiest Thing Th...
• The Bermuda Triangle Is Really NBD
• A Beautiful American Lake May Hide Countless, E...

A cruise is supposed to be a week of rest, relaxation, and adventure, but for the people on the cruises on this list, it was a nightmare. This list is full of the worst cruise ship disasters in history, from disease outbreaks, to power outages, to shipwrecks.  

This list will make you think twice about going on that cruise to the Caribbean. Disasters like these are, statistically, not that common. But still, you would not want to be stuck on any of these unfortunate maritime adventures.

• Pjotr Mahhonin
• Wikimedia Commons
• CC-BY-SA 4.0

Viking Sky: Lost Power In Dangerous Waters Off The Coast Of Norway

March 14, 2019, the Viking Sky set sail off the coast of Norway with more than 890 passengers on board. For unknown reasons, the ship lost power in particularly dangerous waters off the Norwegian coast called Hustadvika. An evacuation team began airlifting passengers to safety via helicopter. The ship rocked in the waves and high winds, causing glass to shatter, heavy objects to fall and slide, and cabins to flood. 

The ship was stranded for 24 hours before it regained power and was tugged back to shore. Twenty people were injured, everyone's trips were refunded, and the rest of the cruise was canceled. 

• Willy Stöwer
• Public domain

Titanic: Hit An Iceberg

Though Titanic wasn't technically a cruise ship, its demise is the worst maritime mishap in history. The ship, which was supposed to be unsinkable, hit an iceberg and went under. About 1,500 people perished.

• CC-BY-SA 3.0

Costa Concordia: Ran Aground

• Max Rigot Selling Company, Chicago

S. S. Eastland: Tipped Over At Port

Seabourn spirits: bombarded by pirates.

In 2005, Seabourn Spirits was bombarded off the coast of Somalia by two boats of pirates . The ship's captain was able to outrun them, and thankfully only one person  was injured. The ship made it to port to repair the damage from grenades.

Royal Pacific: Collided With Fishing Trawler

In 1992, the Royal Pacific collided with a Taiwanese fishing trawler due to poor visibility in the middle of the night. The collision caused the cruise ship to sink, and 30 of the 530 passengers perished. 

• Guillaume Baviere

Star Princess: Fire On Ship

In 2006, a fire broke out on the Star Princess while it was on its way to Jamaica. Three hundred rooms were damaged, 13 people had to be treated for smoke inhalation, and one person suffered a coronary because of the smoke. The cause of the fire was a discarded cigarette.

• Peter J. Fitzpatrick

MTS Oceanos: Capsized Due To Negligence

The MTS Oceanos was carrying 571 passengers on a short cruise from East London to Durban, South Africa. The ship had been neglected and badly needed repairs, but it sailed anyway. It capsized because of a hole in the bulkhead. The captain abandoned ship without even bothering to send a distress call, but thankfully an entertainer named Moss Hills put out an SOS and successfully evacuated everyone on board. 

• Scott Lucht

Carnival Triumph: No Working Toilets

• powderchair

Pacific Sun: Harsh Storm

Louis Majesty: Rogue Waves

Celebrity Mercury: Norovirus Outbreak

• U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Mikesa R. Ponder

Carnival Splendor: Lost Power

• JoachimKohlerBremen

Explorer of the Seas: Record Number Of Sick People

M.s. black watch: legionnaires disease.

• Daniel Schwen

Norwegian Dawn: Cabins Flooded

In April 2005, a rogue 70-foot wave hit the Norwegian Dawn , smashing windows and flooding 62 cabins. The ship encountered stormy weather on its way back to New York City from the Bahamas. About 300 passengers chose to get off early, in Charleston.

• Diseases / Medical Conditions

In the middle of the ocean, no one can hear you scream.