Italian Cruise Ship Sinking

[Philtaz]

6 dead but inevitably with these sorts of events the detah toll is probably expected to rise.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...world-europe-16558910

Thoughts with those on board, hope it doesn't turn out as feared.

[Philtaz]

Apologies for the typo, it's been a long, really crap night in work!

[DrFilth]

you have just given me a shock Philtaz itchy from this site is on italian named boat cruse but he should be in brasil by now, i hope

[Philtaz]

Latest figures via Sky News suggest 3 dead but more than 50 missing.

Inexplicable that this could happen to such a modern vessel so close to port.

[emmie]

not sure if same report, was listening to the news on the radio a minute a go, this doesn't look good at all, i asked myself the same question, how on earth does a modern ship like this end up on it's side.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

[grasscarp]

On the radio they said it was reported that nobody was on look out.

[Philtaz]

Conflicting reports as details are updated, some media reports up to 70 missing.

The pictures of the hole in the hull are pretty dramatic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...world-europe-16562715

[boxtops]

I can't access the Costa Cruises website - who owns/operates this fleet of Cruise ships, which country is it based in?

The story reminds us that another Costa liner crashed into the dock at Sharm el Sheik, not that long ago.

[emmie]

a gash in the hull of the ship 50 metres long, what on earth happened.
The commentary from one of the rescued passengers was too harrowing to listen to.

[boxtops]

It says it ran onto a sandbank, em, but from the pic there look to be rocks in the vicinity.

[emmie]

Modern cruise ship, with state of the art controls, what was the captain, or whoever was on watch doing, i hope that whoever is responsible will be held to account. The latest radio report says 70 people still missing.

[Philtaz]

To be fair grasscarp I doubt a look out would have made much difference as the obvious hazards are below the surface in this instance i.e. no icebergs.

However one would expect sucha large, modern vessel to be fully equipped with modern sonar etc and that those in charge 'on the watch' would have had their wits about them especially as it was coming in to dock.

Without pre-empting the subsequent enquiry it would appear at first glance that someone wasn't at the station they ought to have been at such a vital stage in the cruise.

[boxtops]

... and worrying that they didn't conduct the evacuation exercise as soon as they got everyone on board, rather than leaving it until later.... but presumably they were waiting to be in clear water before they did it, so crew woud be freed up. Hmmm.

[emmie]

stinks doesn't it.

[Hymie]

This sudden sinking is sure to have repercussions affecting the fundamental design of cruise ships. If this had happened in deep (cold) water off say Alaska – many hundreds would have perished.

I can only assume this ship sank so quickly (after being holed), because there was no time to secure the ‘inner airtight hull’.
If you have ever travelled on a modern cruise ship, you should have noticed that a central area of the ship is fitted with airtight doors, which when closed will form an inner area/volume which then cannot flood.

Although investigation of this incident might ultimately conclude that it is not practical to design a vessel which would survive such a sudden and massive breach of its hull.

[DTCwordfan]

And a pilot on board. What the hell was going on?

[Gromit]

Insurance job gone wrong.

When you have 6 huge ships like this and bookings to fill only 4 and no end to the recession, better to put one of them out of action for a year and take the insurance money. Stage the 'incident' near to shore so everyone gets off and in shallow water so the ship doesn't sink and salvage is easy. Except it didn't go quite to plan.

Or it could be an accident.

[grasscarp]

They were four miles off course!

[chrissa1]

@Hymie. My daughter used to work for P&O and on the Crew Deck, below the waterline there is what the crew call the M1. It runs from one end of the ship to the other and does have watertight doors.

[trionam]

Ive been on two cruises in the med and they only did the safey demo in the middle of the week you have people getting on and off so I think its just not feasible to conduct them as you get on.I didnt attend the safety demo either time you might call that irresponsible but I think if the worst happens everything you've been told goes out the window.I knew where my lifejacket was the rest Id figure out.

[askyourgran]

What worries me is that a ship of that size carrying up to 4,000 passengers and there is no warning equipment, just relying on only one man who happens to be missing from his post.