The ship ground to a stop tonight while the passengers were having dinner and is reported to have developed a list

Sky news is reporting that passengers have had to board the lifeboats !

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[ 01-13-2012: Message edited by: Neil - Ex P. & O. S. N. Company. ]

http://m.skynews.com/article/worldnews/16148897

It's going to be interesting to hear first hand accounts and I'm sure there will also be a full investigation. I also wonder how they will deal with the ship itself.

It's very sad there was loss of life. I wonder if it's from people jumping overboard or perhaps crew on lower decks that became quickly flooded?

http://twitpic.com/86yoj2

[ 01-13-2012: Message edited by: JohnHJ ]

Could it be there was a situation onboard that resulted in a loss of power and/or navigation which is why the ship possibly ran aground? I still think back to CARNIVAL SPLENDOR which did have a complete power failure and loss of navigation, but luckily they were in open ocean with no obstacles. COSTA CONCORDIA and CARNIVAL SPLENDOR are essentially the same class of ship. Could there be a correlation? Perhaps not but something to speculate upon until we receive additional information.

While I know that any ship can sink, I'm still amazed considering all the redundancies built in and that so many water tight compartments can be flooded and the ship still stay afloat (at least in theory). I don't believe that CONCORDIA has the latest SOLAS requirements of "safe return to port" incorporated into the design. I have to wonder in both the case of CARNIVAL SPLENDOR and now CONCORDIA if things would have been different had they been built to the latest standards?

Ernie

[ 01-13-2012: Message edited by: eroller ]

Ernie

Starting to sink.

Sinking lower.

Really sinking deeper ... looks like stern first.

quote:

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Originally posted by joe at travelpage:
Looks like this all happened fairly close to shore:...

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I did some goggling and google mapping about this. Here is what I found on the itinerary. I tweeted it out earlier if you want to see the images here: https://twitter.com/#!/myCruiseView (I'm not sure if you can hotline twitter pics or not so I don't want to chance it).
She was heading from Civitavecchia, Italy to Savona, Italy and had to pass through a gap. The gap seemed plenty wide though so I'm not sure why she was so close to land. Based on the aerial shots it looks like the land actually curves in where she is so their doesn't seem to be any reason for her to have been their. Looking at the aerial maps maybe my perspective is off but I am actually starting to believe the theory that maybe they did think their was a problem and possibly had an electrical issue that resulted in an explosion (similar to the QM2 and Splendor) that ruptured the hull. I just can't figure out why she would have been so close to land in that spot.

Edit: I was just looking at my maps and the pictures of the ship. She is facing the wrong way to have been going on her journey. I now have little doubt that their truly was an electrical issue and if she really did run a ground it was to save the ship. In the photos she is facing south but she was headed north at the time.

Edit: if anyone knows about the regulations on twitter pics let me know and i'll post my map snippets.

[ 01-13-2012: Message edited by: DEIx15x8 ]

[ 01-13-2012: Message edited by: DEIx15x8 ]

I unfortunately beleive this will cause a ripple effect within the cruise industry. I beleive many here stateside with little or no cruise knowledge will be very apprehensive to book a cruise. Of course this all depends on how much media play it gets here. So sad.

[ 01-14-2012: Message edited by: nycruiser ]

[ 01-14-2012: Message edited by: DEIx15x8 ]

Thanks again for all the updates everyone.

quote:

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Originally posted by nycruiser:
How sad. From what I am hearing now it appears she has sunk! I never thought I would see the day that a state-of-the-art cruise ship would sink. The last sinking I am aware of was the Sea Diamond by Louis Cruises. While that was tragic in my mind I felt she was a former ferry and not built up to the stringent standards of today's cruise ships. While I know ANY ship can sink this is just a tragedy. My heart goes out to all thos who are lost. After 30 cruises the next time I step foot on a ship I will have some reservation in my mind. I always have felt relatively safe onboard a cruise ship as I have grown up cruising on many - I have been very fortunate but I guess this is all very unsetteling.

I unfortunately beleive this will cause a ripple effect within the cruise industry. I beleive many here stateside with little or no cruise knowledge will be very apprehensive to book a cruise. Of course this all depends on how much media play it gets here. So sad.

[ 01-14-2012: Message edited by: nycruiser ]

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[ 01-14-2012: Message edited by: OceanVoyager ]

Please keep that in mind when posting STUPID speculative remarks whereof I unfortunately read too many. This forum used to distinguish itself from other cruise ship related fora, let's keep it this way.