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Media or a journalist like Tom Witherow of The Telegraph does not know how to report about the M/S Costa Concordia incidents. Below is an horrible example with my corrrections. Everything Mr Witherow reported 20 months after the incidents is incorrect and just hearsay or inventions = garbage. Costa Concordia: what happened the night it went down? The operation to "right" the capsized Costa Concordia is underway. Tom Witherow explains what happened the night the ship hit a reef, causing a gash in the hull. (picture) What media
reports: Facts: The Costa Concordia ran
aground on the island of Giglio last year just
hours after it left port, resulting in the death of
32 passengers and the charging of her captain on
multiple counts of manslaughter. The Costa Concordia never
went aground. The ship contacted a
submerged rock at 9.45 pm and four hull
compartments were up flooded. Nobody
died. The ship was floating and stable after the
contact incident. Vessel later
capsized 00.33 am next day and
sank later, when 26 passengers and 6
crew drowned. The ship had left the Italian
port of Civitavecchia at 7.18pm local time, heading
out for a two-week tour of the Mediterranean with
over 3,200 passengers and 1,000
crew. The ship was doing a weekly
round trip in western Mediterranean and
picked up passengers at Civitavecchia, Savona,
Marseille and Barcelona. None were told what to do
in an emergency, e.g. to go to a muster
station. On the night of 13th January
2012 Captain Francesco Schettino had ordered the
ship to deviate from the planned route as a
'salute' to those on the shore. But at 9.45pm the
ship hit a reef, which the captain later claimed
was not marked on maps or satellite navigation
euqipment. The route Civitavecchia/Savona
was planned before departure by the second officer
in charge of navigation ... and approved by the
Captain. It included a 58° starboard turn at
9.40 pm close to Isola del Giglio, which should
have taken two minutes. The ship never hit a reef
but there was a contact with a
submerged rock. The planned route was
controlled by onboard computers, but the deviation
meant plans were abandoned - the ship's "black box"
voice recorder telling the story of panick, as
frantic conversations between captain and crew took
place. The ship followed the planned
route and the turn was manually initiated on time
and all was in order a few minutes before the
contact. The 'black box' or Voyage
Data Recorder was apparently deactivated during
the turn. Schettino had issued new
coordinates warning the helmsman, "otherwise we go
on the rocks". 15 minutes later the Costa Concordia
hit a rocky outcrop travelling at 16 knots - the
damage to the hull left the engine rooms flooded
and power was lost. Schettino issued oral orders to
the helmsman to turn. What actually happened
9.40-9.45 pm is not established. The helmsman may
have turned the wrong way or the steering gear
didn't work. The coastguard was informed
that the ship was suffering a "blackout" even as
passengers were ringing the local police, and it
wasn't until 10.33pm that the general alarm was
raised. It is correct that the
coastguard was informed about the blackout, while
the situation was reviewed aboard, before the
general alarm was raised. Evidently local police
alerted by passengers could not do anything as the
ship was at sea. The gashed hull, filling with
water, caused the ship to tilt by more than 30
degrees hampering evacuation efforts involving the
coastguard boats and helicopters. The rescue effort
was coordinated by the second master as Captain
Schettino had left the bridge and went ashore
despite being ordered to return to his
post. The gashed hull was stable and
floating upright with less than 20° heel until
11.37 pm, when evacuation was almost
complete. Hundreds of persons were left aboard, as
there was no crew to launch three lifeboats and 60
life rafts. The ship capsized
00.33 am the next day, when Schettino jumped
into a lifeboat. The coastguard order to Schettino
to return to the ship was given later, when the
capsized ship was sinking due to down
flooding of intact hull compartments.
Evidently you cannot return to a sinking ship. The
ship apparently capsized due to
progressive flooding through
illegal watertight doors. The rescue
effort was hampered by lack of information,
training and crew to launch lifeboats and life
rafts. The ship was not
seaworthy at any time. The ship is today being
"righted" from a depth of just 20 meters. If this
is successful the ship will then make its final
voyage to an Italian scrap yard in
2014. The wreck was resting at a depth
of 30 meters and was up righted but
further damaged in the process. Refloating and
removal may be done 2014.
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