How the Wreck of the Costa Concordia Changed an Italian Island The New York Times

Table Of Content

• UK ponders using retired cruise ships to process asylum seekers offshore
• ‘I have lived the most beautiful lives and died the most beautiful deaths’
• Wrecked Costa Concordia liner makes its final journey
• Costa Concordia captain given 16 year sentence
• Italian cruise ship sets sail for first time in months after pandemic nearly sunk the industry

Its momentum had carried it north along the island’s coastline, past the harbor, then past a rocky peninsula called Point Gabbianara. By 10 P.M., 20 minutes after striking the rock, the ship was heading away from the island, into open water. If something wasn’t done immediately, it would sink there.

UK ponders using retired cruise ships to process asylum seekers offshore

Evidence introduced in Schettino’s trial suggests that the safety of his passengers and crew wasn’t his number one priority as he assessed the damage to the Concordia. “Every one of us here has a tragic memory from then,” said Mario Pellegrini, 59, who was deputy mayor in 2012 and was the first civilian to climb onto the cruise ship after it struck the rocks near the lighthouses at the port entrance. I larione Dell’Anna, the dapper admiral in charge of Coast Guard rescue operations in Livorno, meets me on a freezing evening outside a columned seaside mansion in the coastal city of La Spezia. Inside, waiters in white waistcoats are busy laying out long tables lined with antipasti and flutes of champagne for a naval officers’ reception. Dell’Anna, wearing a blue dress uniform with a star on each lapel, takes a seat on a corner sofa.

‘I have lived the most beautiful lives and died the most beautiful deaths’

It was like a giant slippery slide, but one Smith could see was far too dangerous to use. By the time Giglio’s deputy mayor, Mario Pellegrini, reached the harbor, townspeople had begun to collect on its stone esplanade. “We’re all looking at the ship, trying to figure out what happened,” he recalls.

Wrecked Costa Concordia liner makes its final journey

The calamity caused changes in the cruise industry like carrying more lifejackets and holding emergency drills before leaving port. "Everybody was rushing for the lifeboats," Nate Lukes said. "I felt like (my daughters) were going to get trampled, and putting my arms around them and just holding them together and letting the sea of people go by us."

Costa Concordia captain given 16 year sentence

In July 2013 four crew members and Costa Crociere’s crisis coordinator pled guilty to various charges, including manslaughter. That same month Schettino went on trial after being denied a plea bargain. He was charged with manslaughter as well as causing the wreck and abandoning ship. During the 19-month trial, prosecutors claimed that he was an “idiot,” while Schettino countered that his actions had saved lives and that he was being scapegoated.

Then we saw the lifeboats dropping down, and the first ones began to arrive in the port.” Local schools and the church were opened, and the first survivors were hustled inside and given blankets. Costa Concordia was declared a "constructive total loss" by the cruise line's insurer, and her salvage was "one of the biggest maritime salvage operations". On 16 September 2013, the parbuckle salvage of the ship began, and by the early hours of 17 September, the ship was set upright on her underwater cradle. In July 2014, the ship was refloated using sponsons (flotation tanks) welded to her sides, and was towed 320 kilometres (200 mi) to her home port of Genoa for scrapping, which was completed in July 2017. An investigation focused on shortcomings in the procedures followed by Costa Concordia's crew and the actions of her captain, Francesco Schettino, who left the ship prematurely.

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Schettino argued that he fell into a lifeboat because of how the ship was listing to one side, but this argument proved unconvincing. In 2015, a court found Schettino guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship before passengers and crew were evacuated and lying to authorities about the disaster. In addition to Schettino, Ferrarini and Rusli Bin, the other people who received convictions for their role in the disaster were Cabin Service Director Manrico Giampedroni, First Officer Ciro Ambrosio and Third Officer Silvia Coronica. A little more than an hour after impact, the crew began to evacuate the ship. But the report noted that some passengers testified that they didn’t hear the alarm to proceed to the lifeboats.

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There was a 230-foot-long horizontal gash below the waterline. Seawater was exploding into the engine room and was fast cascading through areas holding all the ship’s engines and generators. The lower decks are divided into giant compartments; if four flood, the ship will sink.

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Few of the 500-odd residents of the fishermen’s village will ever forget the freezing night of Jan. 13, 2012, when the Costa Concordia shipwrecked, killing 32 people and upending life on the island for years. Schettino was convicted of multiple manslaughter as well as abandoning ship after leaving before all the passengers had reached safety. "There was really a melee there is the best way to describe it," he told Cobiella.

The vessel was on the edge of an underwater cliff, leading to worries that the ship might slip and break apart, causing an oil spill. To lessen any potential damage, oil booms were placed around the wreckage, and in February 2012 salvage workers began removing more than 2,000 tons of fuel; the undertaking was completed the following month. Divers from the Rimini della Finanza air-naval operations department searched the submerged part of the hull and found several casings hidden inside the pipes approximately nine meters below the surface. The ship, carrying fertiliser, had set sail from Santos in Brazil at the end of February, heading for northern Europe before arriving in the Italian city late last Tuesday night, prosecutors said.

During this time, work also began to remove the vessel in what was the largest maritime salvage operation in history. It was not until September 2013 that the 114,000-ton Concordia was finally righted. The 19-hour process involved specially built underwater platforms, cranes, and some 500 people. In July 2014 the Concordia—outfitted with a number of steel containers serving as flotation devices—was towed to Genoa, Italy, where it was dismantled for scrap. Ortelli was later on hand when, in September 2013, the 115,000-ton, 1,000-foot long cruise ship was righted vertical off its seabed graveyard in an extraordinary feat of engineering.

The Cabinet decree also establishes compensation mechanisms for navigation companies and others affected by the ban. Rival MSC has carried some 60,000 passengers since it resumed some routes last August, breaking off over the Christmas period owing to Italian restrictions. "The crew has so been looking forward to this moment. Everyone was so enthusiastic at the thought of setting off once again. The ship is like a family to us," said skipper Pietro Sinisi from his position on the bridge. The Costa Smeralda is as long as three football pitches and has 11 restaurants, 19 bars, a spa, a theatre and several swimming pools. The vessel also boasts a vast staircase covering three decks atop which is a glass platform offering a birdseye view of the vessel and the ocean below.