Panic as cruise ship with 4000 on board starts to sink!

Weylin

Three people died and several were missing Saturday after an Italian cruise ship with more than 4,000 people on board ran aground and keeled over, sparking scenes of panic. “There are three certified dead,” Giuseppe Linardi, the top public security official in Grosseto told Italian media, explaining that difficulties in the rescue had led to confusion over the death toll which was put at six earlier. The Costa Concordia was on a trip around the Mediterranean when it apparently hit a reef near the island of Giglio on Friday as passengers were sitting down for dinner. Some of the passengers jumped into the icy waters. “There were scenes of panic like on the Titanic. We ran aground on rocks near the Isola del Giglio. I don’t know how this could happen. The captain is crazy,’ Mara Parmegiani, a passenger, was quoted by Italian media as saying. “We were very scared and freezing because it happened while we were at dinner so everyone was in evening wear. We definitely didn’t have time to get anything else. They gave us blankets but there weren’t enough,” she said. Cruise ship worker Fabio Costa was quoted by the BBC as saying: “Everything just started to fall and everybody started to panic and run. We had no idea how serious it was until we got out and we looked through the window and we saw the water coming closer and closer. Everything happened really really fast,” he said. “Everybody tried to get on the boats but people started to panic so they were pushing each other and the crew was trying to help. A lot of people were falling down the stairs,” he added. “It took hours for people to be able to get off the ship.” Linardi added that it was not possible to determine how many people were still missing until the inspection of the boat was completed.

dublinman1990

I just can't believe it that this disaster is on the 90th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. 40 people is too much of a number on a magnitude of this disaster to be thinking of.

Here are more details about the deceased people so far.

Quotes from SKY NEWS

The dead have reportedly been identified as two French passengers and one Peruvian crewman, according to AP.

One of the victims was a man aged in his 70s who is thought to have died of a heart attack caused by the shock of the icy water when he dived in during the chaos.


And facts about the cruise ship.

A major rescue operation was launched after the liner, which was carrying 4,234 people, began sinking near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast, late on Friday - just two hours after it began its voyage.

It struck a rock and began to take in water leaving the captain, Francesco Schettino, no option but to give the order to abandon ship with seven short whistles.

It just beggars belief with this sort of accident happening.

There is more with this link below

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16148897

dublinman1990

The captain and the first officer of the Costa Concordia have been now held by Italian Police on suspicion of multiple manslaughter.

BrianD

It beggars belief that this incident is being compared to the Titantic. Could not be more different on every level apart from the fact they were both ships.

MrJoeSoap

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I just can't believe it that this disaster is on the 90th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

100th anniversary?

BrianD wrote: »

It beggars belief that this incident is being compared to the Titantic. Could not be more different on every level apart from the fact they were both ships.

It is probably because of the year that is in it, 100 years on and Titanic is always the "benchmark" nautical tragedy, if I can put it that way.

dublinman1990

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

100th anniversary?

I am very sorry for that mistake. Forgive Me for the error!

Back to topic - I just heard that the death toll has risen from 3 to 5 people. Their details have so far not been released. Some people who survived the tragedy are saying that the disaster is being compared to the sinking of the titanic.

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16149327

You can take a look at this too before making your post now that I just found it.

http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/01/15/korean-couple-found-alive-in-capsized-sh?videoId=228596870&videoChannel=1

Just make you stop the video before it ends.

It's good that the South Korean couple were found alive.

BrianD

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I am very sorry for that mistake. Forgive Me for the error!

Back to topic - I just heard that the death toll has risen from 3 to 5 people. Their details have so far not been released. Some people who survived the tragedy are saying that the disaster is being compared to the sinking of the titanic.

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16149327

You can take a look at this too before making your post now that I just found it.

http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/01/15/korean-couple-found-alive-in-capsized-sh?videoId=228596870&videoChannel=1

Just make you stop the video before it ends.

It's good that the South Korean couple were found alive.

But there really is no comparison.


Titantic = ocean going liner
Concordia = cruise ship
Titantic =lost at sea
Concordia = aground

Titanic had 2,300 passengers on board while the concordia had 4,200. All bar a small number of people who lost their lives were able to disembark the Concordia mainly by lifeboat (which is probably as a direct result of the Titanic 100 years earlier). You had a 68% fatality rate on the Titanic compared with less than 1% on the Concordia.

The irony there are marine accidents more worthy of comparison to the Titanic in the developing world every year that don't get the front page of UK press ever.