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

A very lucky escape.

is that even possible to refloat that ship?

Blimey, someones going to jail for that mistake

Apologies for the Daily Wail link, but if you scroll down the pictures, there appears to be a dirty great rock stuck in a hole in the hull 😯

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086527/Costa-Concordia-Massive-evacuation-underway-cruise-ship-starts-sinking-Italian-coast.html

Yes saw that in the first link, sandbars generally don’t have rocks in do they?! serious navigation error there, could have been alot worse, but still 3 lost 😥

I reckon they can patch up, bit of tin and some araldite, it’ll be fine. Reckon there will be some vacancies for a captain with that company….! Not good though, looks scary!

The news this morning reckoned there was 4000 onboard with a capacity of 20000. Sounds like an in. surance job to me….. . Made the hole a bit too big to beach it at the island though.

Shocking we still have problems like navigation errors when the weather is good, lifeboats unable to launch due to a leaning ship and evacuation plans that don’t seem to be particularly well though out. I have no idea how many had to be rescued from the water but its very lucky for most.

i’m glad that nearly everyone was ok (my condolences to the dead people’s family/friends though 🙁 it does look pretty horrific 😯

they were asking the question “why should a modern ship like this capsize so easily” on radio 4 news. I’m sorry have you not seen these top heavy vessels ? they look like skyscrapers floating on a rowing boat ! 😯

Why on earth would someone jump overboard?

hopefully we can take something from this event..

in that it might be a valuable asset in the ongoing battle to dissuade Mrs Yunki from her disturbing desire to take a cruise.. 😐

No desire to take a cruise …. Too close to being at work for my liking !

Where did you get 20k passengers from the link abose says it was a 3700 capacity that was fully booked with a full complement of staff

Surroundedbyzulus are you kidding me! I imagine the panic set in and people either didn’t think they could get to relevant lifeboats/jackets or just panicked and jumped. It’s amazing what adrenaline does to people’s decision making under pressure.

Always joked with 4/5 people at work how hideous cruises are, they love there! Never had any desire or inclination to go on…. certainly don’t after that either (I know it’s rare before people TTP too).

I went on a cruise to Norway a couple of years back and i thought it was great. Never thought that would happen though. There are still 50 to 70 unaccounted for, apparently, doesn’t look good.
I would still go on another cruise though…if i could afford it.

is that even possible to refloat that ship?

Of course, pumps/cranes/bungs/tugs.

Look at what IKB did in Ireland with the Great Britain, nearly 200 yrs.

Can they refloat the boat? I’d think so. Cox and Danks raised much of the scuttled German fleet in Scapa Flow.

http://www.scapamap.org/history.php

Crikey, the Daily Wail photos are pretty good. Puts into perspective how big the ship is.

On Radio 4 this morning they said something along the lines that modern cruise ships are powered by electric motors, so if they lose power then the vessel is out of control and the Captain wouldn’t have a chance.

I was surprised that they are electric powered, thought they were diesel.

The ship, will have a huge engine or two, running electric motors, that control everything,like a huge power station, loose power to the controls and the ship will drift where it likes, all you can do is drop anchors, ask for tug assistance and help.

So sad thsat the media keep saying there are no brits dead, but forget about the others who have died.

Yep diesel gennys running at optimum rpm giving variable power to the electric motors

Lets them control vibrations as at a set rpm the rpm vibrations can be designed for throughout the ship rather than a wide range of engine rpm meaning a range of vibrations that could have the ship ripping its self apart

Or at least thats what my dutch language came out with after a visit to the maritine museum at the gates of hell – myndutch is crap so happy to be corrected !

Just read on the ever reliable interweb that 70 are still missing!! Missing in water unfortunately usually means one thing 😐

they were asking the question “why should a modern ship like this capsize so easily” on radio 4 news. I’m sorry have you not seen these top heavy vessels ? they look like skyscrapers floating on a rowing boat !

They really really are not top heavy. Centre of volume != centre of gravity != centre of buoyancy.

To introduce a note of levity to the proceedings, did anyone spot the classic blonde moment? ‘It was cold and dark just like the sinking of the titanic’ Course it was love.

The ship will surely have travelled that course on numerous occassions? I fail to see how such a basic and fundamental error could have been made by experience crew. It takes more than just a Captain to make sure a mistake.

I wanted to build an Airfix kit of an Italian cruise liner, so I phoned the local model shop to see if they had one in stock.
They only had one left, so I said “Can you put it on one side for me ?”

Yep diesel gennys running at optimum rpm giving variable power to the electric motors

just like cars should be – none of this hybrid rubbish and extra complication.

news at lunch said captain had delibarately veered off the pre plotted course and thats why his charts were not showing rocks

That’ll be an extra 5 years onto his sentence then

just like cars should be – none of this hybrid rubbish and extra complication.

The problem is the extra weight.

On a ship or a train the weight makes little difference as they (generaly) don’t have to deal with hills and gravity or have space constraints.

The closest road transport analogy would be a truck with 14 to 18 gears which lets them match the optimum engine RPM to road speed without the added weight/complexity of a hybrid system.

Also bear in mind “diesel” doesnt mean “internal combustion”, plenty of ships run on turbines (jet engines) which prodcue almost all their power at arround maximum RPM, which is useless for a propeller on a ship.

Will they salvage the ship and rename it or scrap it?

news at lunch said captain had delibarately veered off the pre plotted course and thats why his charts were not showing rocks

Rumour has it (on the news) that he veered in shore to wave at a friend on the coast. So bizarre and illogical that it’s probably true!

From the BBC:

Claims have also been made that the captain was seen saluting a colleague or former colleague on shore.

So… are they saying that he took the ship really close in to shore so he could wave to his mates? “Hi Frank, look at my massive… AARRRRGHH! Rocks”.

Epic Epic Fail.

Dave

edit: beaten to it by 9 seconds!

The number of people that have died or been injured in this incident – while undoubtedly and unquestionably sad – is not a huge number compared to the number of people that are killed or assaulted on cruise ships in any given year. In the latter instances, there is rarely any decent investigation by state authorities and the ships’ operating companies don’t often put much effort into conduct their own inquiries.

http://www.internationalcruisevictims.org/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/27/rebecca-coriam-family-plea
http://www.rebecca-coriam.com/

Will they salvage the ship and rename it or scrap it?

Salvage. Current estimate from the cruise line is €55-65m to get her going again. Which is obviously far cheaper than replacement

Sank, not sunk

I reckon Food poisoning and legionaires/norovirus must kill a few each year as well.

As for jumping in the water, The short distance to shore, warm sea and angle of heel made this a viable and possibly only option for many in this case.

Why on earth would someone jump overboard?

why on earth would you jump out of a burning building a la World Trade Centre people? if you think youre gonna die you do what you can to get out and unfortunately that can mean making rash life or death decisions which humans are inherently bad at doing!

project – Member

So sad thsat the media keep saying there are no brits dead, but forget about the others who have died.

isn’t that standard practice in the country of report, in the same way that the news states when “the next of kin have been notified”? so people watching know that their loved ones aren’t involved.

if you think youre gonna die you do what you can to get out and unfortunately that can mean making rash life or death decisions

more like ‘death or other death’ decisions.

choosing between dying in a fire or falling to your death – i think i’d go with falling.

choosing between drowning in an enclosed space or trying to swim for shore (and drowning on the way) – i’d go with swimming for it.

Dave

So sad thsat the media keep saying there are no brits dead

Agree.

When reporting a human tragedy, why does it matter how many of whichever nationality are involved?

Other than padding out the article, it add’s nothing.

How many of us, when we hear news of this kind, immediately think “I wonder how many Brit’s have died?” …

The worse thing imv was the captain and crew abandoning then getting off ahead of the passengers..

Captain Coward is the current title for the Eyties, then they always did run their tanks with five reverse gears or so my Grandad told me..