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 Costa
Concordia was a Concordia-class cruise ship built in 2004 by the
Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yards in Italy and operated from
2005 until 2012 by Costa Crociere (a subsidiary of Carnival
Corporation). It was wrecked off the coast of Isola del Giglio
in Italy on 13 January 2012. It was declared a total loss and
later towed to the port of Genoa where it was scrapped. The name
Concordia was intended to express the wish for "continuing
harmony, unity, and peace between European nations."
Costa Concordia was the first of the Concordia-class cruise
ships, followed by similar ships Costa Serena, Costa Pacifica,
Costa Favolosa and Costa Fascinosa, and Carnival Splendor built
for Carnival Cruise Lines. When the 114,137 GT Costa Concordia
and its sister ships entered service, they were among the
largest ships built in Italy until the construction of the
130,000 GT Dream-class cruise ships.
On 13 January 2012 at about 9:45 p.m., in calm seas and overcast
weather, under command of Captain Francesco Schettino, Costa
Concordia struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea just off the
eastern shore of Isola del Giglio, on the western coast of Italy
about 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Rome. This tore a 50 m (160
ft) gash on the port side of her hull, which soon flooded parts
of the engine room resulting in power loss to her propulsion and
electrical systems. With water flooding in and listing, the ship
drifted back to Giglio Island where she grounded 500 m (550 yd)
north of the village of Giglio Porto, resting on her starboard
side in shallow waters with most of her starboard side under
water.
Despite the gradual sinking of the ship, its complete loss of
power, and its proximity to shore in calm seas, an order to
abandon ship was not issued until over an hour after the initial
impact. Although international maritime law requires all
passengers to be evacuated within 30 minutes of an order to
abandon ship, the evacuation of Costa Concordia took over six
hours and not all passengers were evacuated. Of the 3,229
passengers and 1,023 crew known to have been aboard, 32 died. |
