300 Filipinos were employed on the Costa Concordia cruise ship which spectacularly capsized off the Italian coast yesterday, 21 of whom are reported to have been injured. So far 3 are confirmed dead, 2 French nationals and a Peruvian crew member.
The captain of the vessel, Francesco Schettino, has been arrested and is expected be charged with multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and ship desertion. He is said to have left the vessel less than 2 hours after the accident, and well before all known survivors were taken off the stricken ship. The captain was on the bridge at the time the Costa Concordia struck a reef or rock.
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The accident is perplexing industry experts. The ship is less than 6 years old, one of six built to the same design. It has a crew of 1,000 and was carrying 3,000 passengers.
Costing £380 million ($USD570 million), it has state of the art navigation systems. The cruise it was on was a regular route sailed weekly, the captan and navigation crew are Italian, the waters are well charted, and it could be expected that there should have been no problems as the sea was calm that night.
Costa Concordia is a Concordia-class cruise ship owned and operated by Costa Cruises. She was built at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yards in Italy. The name Concordia was intended to express the wish for "continuing harmony, unity, and peace between European nations".[6]
She is the first ship in the Concordia class, with sisters Costa Serena, Costa Pacifica, Costa Favolosa, Costa Fascinosa and Carnival Splendor built for Carnival Cruise Lines. Costa Concordia entered service in July 2006 and is the largest ship to be built in Italy, at 114,500 tons.
The ship garnered international attention in January 2012 when she ran aground off Isola del Giglio, Italy, resulting in the evacuation of over 4,000 people on board. At least 3 passengers died, 42 others were injured, and 41 are still unaccounted for.[7][8]
The height of luxury, Costa Concordia has 1,500 staterooms; 505 have private balconies and 55 have direct access to Samsara Spa; 58 suites have private balconies and 12 have direct access to the spa. Costa Concordia has one of the world's largest wellness centers at sea, the Samsara Spa, a two-level, 6,000 m (20,000 ft) wellness area, with gym, a thalassotherapy pool, sauna, Turkish bath and a solarium. The ship has four swimming pools, two with retractable covers, five spas, and a poolside screen on the pool deck.
There are five onboard restaurants and thirteen bars.
On 13 January 2012, the Costa Concordia ran aground on a reef at around 21:00 local time (UTC+1) off Isola del Giglio, having left Civitavecchia earlier that evening at the beginning of a seven-day cruise.
At about 20:00, passengers were in the dining hall when there was a sudden loud bang, which a crew member (speaking over the intercom) ascribed to an "electrical failure". An hour later a general emergency was announced; those on board said the boat suddenly listed to the port side.
Passengers were advised to put on their life-jackets. The ship developed a list of approximately 20° to starboard, which caused problems in launching the lifeboats, with some passengers jumping into the water to swim to shore.
At least three people have died, 21 others were injured, and 41 still unaccounted for.
According to the local coastguard, 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew members were on board at the time.
The first daylight pictures taken the following morning showed the ship lying on her starboard side and half submerged, not far outside Giglio Harbour. Other reports indicated the ship had developed a major electrical fault. According to the local coast guard, the ship has a 50-metre (160 ft) gash on its port side.
It was reported that the ship had diverted from its "usual" route to provide passengers with a better view of Giglio Porto. Italian media reported that the boat hit a group of rocks known as Le Scole, located about one kilometer South of Giglio Porto. The webcam for the ship shows the last update was on 13 January at 20:31 GMT.[22] The captain was arrested on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.
Officials are trying to determine why the ship did not issue a mayday and why she was navigating so close to the coast. Meanwhile, the ship remains partially capsized off Isola del Giglio, Italy.
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