'We all suffer from PTSD': 10 years after the Costa Concordia cruise disaster, memories remain

GIGLIO, Italy — Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio. But for the passengers on board and the residents who welcomed them ashore, the memories of that harrowing, freezing night remain vividly etched into their minds.

The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull. The blackout after the ship's engine room flooded and its generators failed. The final mad scramble to evacuate the listing liner and then the extraordinary generosity of Giglio islanders who offered shoes, sweatshirts and shelter until the sun rose and passengers were ferried to the mainland.

Italy on Thursday is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration that will end with a candlelit vigil near the moment the ship hit the reef: 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2012. The events will honor the 32 people who died that night, the 4,200 survivors, but also the residents of Giglio, who took in passengers and crew and then lived with the Concordia's wrecked carcass off their shore for another two years until it was righted and hauled away for scrap.

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“For us islanders, when we remember some event, we always refer to whether it was before or after the Concordia,” said Matteo Coppa, who was 23 and fishing on the jetty when the darkened Concordia listed toward shore and then collapsed onto its side in the water.

“I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after,” he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats.

The sad anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of COVID-19 outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month  warned people across-the-board not to go on cruises, regardless of their vaccination status, because of the risks of infection.

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'We all suffer from PTSD'

For Concordia survivor Georgia Ananias, the COVID-19 infections are just the latest evidence that passenger safety still isn’t a top priority for the cruise ship industry. Passengers aboard the Concordia were largely left on their own to find life jackets and a functioning lifeboat after the captain steered the ship close too shore in a stunt. He then delayed an evacuation order until it was too late, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was listing too heavily.

“I always said this will not define me, but you have no choice," Ananias said in an interview from her home in Los Angeles, Calif. “We all suffer from PTSD. We had a lot of guilt that we survived and 32 other people died.”

Prosecutors blamed the delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. The captain, Francesco Schettino, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all the passengers and crew had evacuated.

Ananias and her family declined Costa’s initial $14,500 compensation offered to each passenger and sued Costa, a unit of U.S.-based Carnival Corp., to try to cover the cost of their medical bills and therapy for the post-traumatic stress they have suffered. But after eight years in the U.S. and then Italian court system, they lost their case.

“I think people need to be aware that when you go on a cruise, that if there is a problem, you will not have the justice that you may be used to in the country in which you are living,” said Ananias, who went onto become a top official in the International Cruise Victims association, an advocacy group that lobbies to improve safety aboard ships and increase transparency and accountability in the industry.

Costa didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on the anniversary.

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'We did something incredible'

Cruise Lines International Association, the world’s largest cruise industry trade association, stressed in a statement to The Associated Press that passenger and crew safety was the industry's top priority, and that cruising remains one of the safest vacation experiences available.

“Our thoughts continue to be with the victims of the Concordia tragedy and their families on this sad anniversary," CLIA said. It said it has worked over the past 10 years with the International Maritime Organization and the maritime industry to “drive a safety culture that is based on continuous improvement."

For Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli, the memories of that night run the gamut: the horror of seeing the capsized ship, the scramble to coordinate rescue services on shore, the recovery of the first bodies and then the pride that islanders rose to the occasion to tend to the survivors.

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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. But the night of the disaster, a Friday the 13th, remains seared in his memory.

“It was a night that, in addition to being a tragedy, had a beautiful side because the response of the people was a spontaneous gesture that was appreciated around the world,” Ortelli said.

It seemed the natural thing to do at the time. “But then we realized that on that night, in just a few hours, we did something incredible.”

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Key dates in Costa Concordia shipwreck, trial and cleanup

FILE— Seagulls fly in front of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

FILE— Seagulls fly in front of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

FILE— The grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia is seen through a window on the Isola del Giglio island, Italy, Friday, Feb. 3, 2012. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

FILE— Oil removal ships near the cruise ship Costa Concordia leaning on its side Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, after running aground near the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, last Friday night. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

FILE— The Costa Concordia ship lies on its side on the Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, Monday, Sept. 16, 2013. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

FILE— A sunbather gets her tan on a rock during the operations to refloat the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia on the tiny Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, Saturday, July 19, 2014. Once the ship has refloated it will be towed to Genoa’s port, about 200 nautical miles (320 kilometers), where it will be dismantled. 30 months ago it struck a reef and capsized, killing 32 people. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

FILE— The wrecked hulk of the Costa Concordia cruise ship is towed along the Tyrrhenian Sea, 30 miles off the coast of Viareggio, Italy, Friday, July 25, 2014. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Fabio Muzzi)

FILE— A view of the previously submerged side of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, off the coast of the Tuscan Island of Giglio, Italy, Monday, Jan. 13, 2014. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

FILE— A woman hangs her laundry as the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia is seen in the background, off the Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap.(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

FILE— In this photo taken on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, Francesco Schettino, right, the captain of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the tiny Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, is taken into custody by Carabinieri in Porto Santo Stefano, Italy. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Giacomo Aprili)

Experts aboard a sea platform carry oil recovery equipment, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, as they return to the port of the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, where the cruise ship Costa Concordia, visible in background, ran aground on Ja. 13, 2012. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

FILE — The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia lays on its starboard side after it ran aground off the coast of the Isola del Giglio island, Italy on Jan. 13, 2012. Italy is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Giuseppe Modesti)

FILE— Italian firefighters conduct search operations on the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia that ran aground the tiny Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

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By Associated Press (AP) — Italy on Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the Costa Concordia cruise ship wreck off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Here are some key dates in the saga, including the trial of the captain and the remarkable engineering feat to right the liner from its side so it could be towed away for scrap.

Jan. 13, 2012: The Costa Concordia slams into a reef off Italy’s Giglio island after the captain, Francesco Schettino, ordered it taken off course and brought it close to shore in a stunt. It drifts without power until it comes to rest on its side offshore. After weeks of searches, rescue crews confirm 32 people died.

Jan. 15, 2012: Prosecutor Francesco Verusio confirms passenger allegations that Schettino abandoned the Concordia before all the passengers and crew had been evacuated.

Jan. 17, 2012: Schettino is placed under house arrest.

Jan. 17, 2012: Dramatic audio of the shipwreck is broadcast in which Coast Guard Cmdr. Gregorio De Falco uses colorful expletives to order Schettino to get back on board to coordinate the evacuation. “You’ve abandoned ship! I’m in charge now,” De Falco yells. “Go back and report to me how many passengers there are and what they need. ... Perhaps you saved yourself from the sea, but I’ll make you pay for this, damn it!”

Jan. 20, 2012: Costa’s CEO tells Italian state TV that Schettino relayed inaccurate information to the company and crew and downplayed the seriousness of the situation after the ship hit the rocks, delaying the mobilization of proper assistance.

July 9, 2013: Schettino goes on trial for manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing the shipwreck. The trial is held in a 1,000-seat theater on the mainland in Grosseto, a spacious venue so survivors and relatives of victims could attend.

July 20, 2013: Five Costa employees are convicted of manslaughter in a separate trial, receiving sentences of less than three years after entering plea bargains.

Sept. 17, 2013: Fog horns wail shortly after 4 a.m. to announce the Concordia had been wrenched from its side and reached vertical after 19-hour operation using chains and weighted tanks to right it from the seabed.

Oct. 8, 2013: The remains of one of the two people still missing is located by divers working on the wreck, later identified as Italian Maria Grazia Trecarichi.

Feb. 1, 2014: A Spanish diver working on the Concordia wreckage dies after apparently gashing his leg on an underwater metal sheet, news reports say.

July 23, 2014: As boat sirens wail and bells toll, the Concordia begins its final voyage as it is towed from Giglio to be turned into scrap. It arrives in Genoa’s shipyard on July 27.

Nov. 3, 2014: The body of Indian waiter Russel Rebello, the last missing victim, is found by crews dismantling the vessel for scrap in Genoa.

Feb. 11, 2015: The court in Grosseto convicts Schettino and sentences him to 16 years in prison for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before passengers and crew had been evacuated, as well as for giving false information about the gravity of the collision.

May 31, 2016: An appeals court in Florence upholds the conviction and sentence for Schettino after both the prosecution and defense appealed. The prosecution sought to toughen the sentence to 27 years while the defense argued that blame didn’t fall solely on Schettino.

May 12, 2017: Schettino loses his final appeal and heads to prison after Italy’s highest Court of Cassation upholds his previous conviction and 16-year sentence.

January 2018: Coast Guard Cmdr. De Falco, who won international fame for his rant against Schettino, nominates himself as a lawmaker for Italy’s 5-Star Movement political party. He is expelled from the party later that year.

December, 2021: A Genoa court orders Costa Crociere to pay 92,700 euros ($105,000) to Concordia passenger Ernesto Carusotti in one of the few civil lawsuits to reach a verdict against the company.

This version corrects the spelling of Grosseto.

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

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10 years later, Costa Concordia survivors share their stories from doomed cruise ship

Ten years after the deadly Costa Concordia cruise line disaster in Italy, survivors still vividly remember scenes of chaos they say were like something straight out of the movie "Titanic."

NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella caught up with a group of survivors on TODAY Wednesday, a decade after they escaped a maritime disaster that claimed the lives of 32 people. The Italian cruise ship ran aground off the tiny Italian island of Giglio after striking an underground rock and capsizing.

"I think it’s the panic, the feeling of panic, is what’s carried through over 10 years," Ian Donoff, who was on the cruise with his wife Janice for their honeymoon, told Cobiella. "And it’s just as strong now."

More than 4,000 passengers and crew were on board when the ship crashed into rocks in the dark in the Mediterranean Sea, sending seawater rushing into the vessel as people scrambled for their lives.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, had been performing a sail-past salute of Giglio when he steered the ship too close to the island and hit the jagged reef, opening a 230-foot gash in the side of the cruise liner.

Passengers struggled to escape in the darkness, clambering to get to the life boats. Alaska resident Nate Lukes was with his wife, Cary, and their four daughters aboard the ship and remembers the chaos that ensued as the ship started to sink.

"There was really a melee there is the best way to describe it," he told Cobiella. "It's very similar to the movie 'Titanic.' People were jumping onto the top of the lifeboats and pushing down women and children to try to get to them."

The lifeboats wouldn't drop down because the ship was tilted on its side, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded on the side of the ship for hours in the cold. People were left to clamber down a rope ladder over a distance equivalent to 11 stories.

"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."

Schettino was convicted of multiple manslaughter as well as abandoning ship after leaving before all the passengers had reached safety. He is now serving a 16-year prison sentence .

It took nearly two years for the damaged ship to be raised from its side before it was towed away to be scrapped.

The calamity caused changes in the cruise industry like carrying more lifejackets and holding emergency drills before leaving port.

A decade after that harrowing night, the survivors are grateful to have made it out alive. None of the survivors who spoke with Cobiella have been on a cruise since that day.

"I said that if we survive this, then our marriage will have to survive forever," Ian Donoff said.

Scott Stump is a trending reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY (which you should subscribe to here! ) that brings the day's news, health tips, parenting stories, recipes and a daily delight right to your inbox. He has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing features and news for pop culture, parents, politics, health, style, food and pretty much everything else. 

10 years later, Costa Concordia disaster is still vivid for survivors

The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia lays on its starboard side after it ran aground off the coast of Italy in 2012.

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Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio . But for the passengers on board and the residents who welcomed them ashore, the memories of that harrowing, freezing night remain vividly etched into their minds.

The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull. The blackout after the ship’s engine room flooded and its generators failed. The final mad scramble to evacuate the listing liner and then the extraordinary generosity of Giglio islanders who offered shoes, sweatshirts and shelter until the sun rose and passengers were ferried to the mainland.

Italy on Thursday is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration that will end with a candlelit vigil near the moment the ship hit the reef: 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2012. The events will honor the 32 people who died that night, the 4,200 survivors, but also the residents of Giglio, who took in passengers and crew and then lived with the Concordia’s wrecked carcass off their shore for another two years until it was righted and hauled away for scrap.

“For us islanders, when we remember some event, we always refer to whether it was before or after the Concordia,” said Matteo Coppa, who was 23 and fishing on the jetty when the darkened Concordia listed toward shore and then collapsed onto its side in the water.

“I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after,” he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats.

The sad anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of COVID-19 outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month warned people across-the-board not to go on cruises , regardless of their vaccination status, because of the risks of infection.

A couple stands on a rear balcony of the Ruby Princess cruise ship while docked in San Francisco, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a cruise ship that docked in San Francisco on Thursday after a dozen vaccinated passengers tested positive for coronavirus. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

A dozen passengers on cruise ship test positive for coronavirus

The passengers, whose infections were found through random testing, were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, according to the Port of San Francisco.

Jan. 7, 2022

For Concordia survivor Georgia Ananias, the COVID-19 infections are just the latest evidence that passenger safety still isn’t a top priority for the cruise ship industry. Passengers aboard the Concordia were largely left on their own to find life jackets and a functioning lifeboat after the captain steered the ship close too shore in a stunt. He then delayed an evacuation order until it was too late, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was listing too heavily.

“I always said this will not define me, but you have no choice,” Ananias said in an interview from her home in Los Angeles. “We all suffer from PTSD. We had a lot of guilt that we survived and 32 other people died.”

Prosecutors blamed the delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. The captain, Francesco Schettino, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all the passengers and crew had evacuated.

Ananias and her family declined Costa’s initial $14,500 compensation offered to each passenger and sued Costa, a unit of U.S.-based Carnival Corp., to try to cover the cost of their medical bills and therapy for the post-traumatic stress they have suffered. But after eight years in the U.S. and then Italian court system, they lost their case.

“I think people need to be aware that when you go on a cruise, that if there is a problem, you will not have the justice that you may be used to in the country in which you are living,” said Ananias, who went onto become a top official in the International Cruise Victims association, an advocacy group that lobbies to improve safety aboard ships and increase transparency and accountability in the industry.

Costa didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on the anniversary.

Cruise Lines International Assn., the world’s largest cruise industry trade association, stressed in a statement to the Associated Press that passenger and crew safety were the industry’s top priority, and that cruising remains one of the safest vacation experiences available.

“Our thoughts continue to be with the victims of the Concordia tragedy and their families on this sad anniversary,” CLIA said. It said it has worked over the past 10 years with the International Maritime Organization and the maritime industry to “drive a safety culture that is based on continuous improvement.”

For Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli, the memories of that night run the gamut: the horror of seeing the capsized ship, the scramble to coordinate rescue services on shore, the recovery of the first bodies and then the pride that islanders rose to the occasion to tend to the survivors.

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. But the night of the disaster, a Friday the 13th, remains seared in his memory.

“It was a night that, in addition to being a tragedy, had a beautiful side because the response of the people was a spontaneous gesture that was appreciated around the world,” Ortelli said.

It seemed the natural thing to do at the time. “But then we realized that on that night, in just a few hours, we did something incredible.”

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Capsized Costa Concordia Is Finally Set to Leave Its Watery Grave

Final preparations are under way to refloat and remove the Costa Concordia from the pristine waters off Giglio in what has been the largest and most expensive maritime salvage operation ever attempted. 

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

Editor’s Note: For Scientific American’s complete coverage of the Costa Concordia disaster see links at the end of this story.

After more than two and a half years and $1 billion, the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia is about to set sail again, although it won’t be under its own power. The move could not come too soon, because the risk that it will damage the environment is much higher now than when the ship originally crashed near the Tuscan island of Giglio in January 2012.

If all goes well, the crippled vessel , which was rotated to an upright position (parbuckled) in September, will be lifted to the surface in an even riskier operation sometime around the middle of July—likely the 14th because the salvors working on the operation are superstitious enough to avoid having the refloat in progress on the 13th.

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So far, the biggest problem the uplift team has faced was detachment of a flotation caisson in April. These caissons are large metal boxes into which compressed air will be pumped to float the ship. Salvage crews repaired and remounted the escaped caisson and are now finishing installation of the remaining ones. The Concordia will have 30 caissons in all to carry out the refloat. Once the ship has been lifted, two of the caissons will have to be refitted to help keep the craft ship afloat while it is being towed 240 kilometers to Genoa, where it will be dismantled.

Lifting the ship more than 12 meters off the giant underwater platforms that have been supporting it since September will take three or four days, but raising it the first two meters will be the most dangerous part of the exercise. That’s when the hull could crack and spill out a toxic stew of chemicals, rotten food and debris trapped since the shipwreck that has been swilling around inside the sunken ship for more than two years. If the hull breaks apart, the ship would likely never be removable from Giglio in one piece and would have to be dismantled in situ.

Once the ship is floated two meters off the platforms, salvors will carry out crucial checks to make sure the ship has no hidden fissures or further structural damage. Then they will move it eastward some 30 meters to begin the full refloat. Franco Porcellacchia, project manager for Costa Cruises, told Scientific American that the ship will be then be lifted above the surface deck by deck, with salvage crews stopping after each new deck emerges to look for environmentally harmful substances as well as clean the debris so that it does not leak into the sea. Italy’s environmental ministry is “greatly concerned” that the wrecked ship will spew flotsam and contaminants all the way to Genoa. But the engineers working on the project and Costa Cruises (which is owned by American Carnival Cruises) have assured them that the pollution produced en route to Genoa will be “temporary and of little significance.”

The superficial debris that salvagers will remove before the vessel sets sail includes mattresses, suitcases and personal effects belonging to guests as well as fully stocked freezers (that could pop when the water pressure is eased) and entire restaurants with plates, utensils, tables and chairs. And even if the hull remains intact, bunker fuel left in the tanks and engines, along with other harmful chemicals such as cleaning supplies could also befoul the water if not removed promptly.

The risks posed by raising the ship are real but leaving the Costa Concordia in place is not an option because as the ship decays and saltwater and waves crash against it, the likelihood of pollution fouling the waters off Giglio rises. Salvors have told Scientific American that they cannot guarantee the ship would survive another winter intact. “It’s far more dangerous to the environment to leave it where it is than to tow it away,” said Franco Gabrielli, Italy’s Civil Protection chief, when he met with Giglio residents this week to explain the process. “It must go as soon as possible.”

Barbie Latza Nadeau is an American journalist who has worked from Rome since 1996. She is author of the upcoming book, Roadmap to Hell: Sex, Drugs and Guns on the Mafia Coast , about sex trafficking and organized crime in Italy.

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The Costa Concordia Disaster: How Human Error Made It Worse

By: Becky Little

Updated: August 10, 2023 | Original: June 23, 2021

Night view on January 16, 2012, of the cruise liner Costa Concordia aground in front of the harbor of Isola del Giglio after hitting underwater rocks on January 13.

Many famous naval disasters happen far out at sea, but on January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia wrecked just off the coast of an Italian island in relatively shallow water. The avoidable disaster killed 32 people and seriously injured many others, and left investigators wondering: Why was the luxury cruise ship sailing so close to the shore in the first place?

During the ensuing trial, prosecutors came up with a tabloid-ready explanation : The married ship captain had sailed it so close to the island to impress a much younger Moldovan dancer with whom he was having an affair.

Whether or not Captain Francesco Schettino was trying to impress his girlfriend is debatable. (Schettino insisted the ship sailed close to shore to salute other mariners and give passengers a good view.) But whatever the reason for getting too close, the Italian courts found the captain, four crew members and one official from the ship’s company, Costa Crociere (part of Carnival Corporation), to be at fault for causing the disaster and preventing a safe evacuation. The wreck was not the fault of unexpected weather or ship malfunction—it was a disaster caused entirely by a series of human errors.

“At any time when you have an incident similar to Concordia, there is never…a single causal factor,” says Brad Schoenwald, a senior marine inspector at the United States Coast Guard. “It is generally a sequence of events, things that line up in a bad way that ultimately create that incident.”

Wrecking Near the Shore

Technicians pass in a small boat near the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia lying aground in front of the Isola del Giglio on January 26, 2012 after hitting underwater rocks on January 13.

The Concordia was supposed to take passengers on a seven-day Italian cruise from Civitavecchia to Savona. But when it deviated from its planned path to sail closer to the island of Giglio, the ship struck a reef known as the Scole Rocks. The impact damaged the ship, allowing water to seep in and putting the 4,229 people on board in danger.

Sailing close to shore to give passengers a nice view or salute other sailors is known as a “sail-by,” and it’s unclear how often cruise ships perform these maneuvers. Some consider them to be dangerous deviations from planned routes. In its investigative report on the 2012 disaster, Italy’s Ministry of Infrastructures and Transports found that the Concordia “was sailing too close to the coastline, in a poorly lit shore area…at an unsafe distance at night time and at high speed (15.5 kts).”

In his trial, Captain Schettino blamed the shipwreck on Helmsman Jacob Rusli Bin, who he claimed reacted incorrectly to his order; and argued that if the helmsman had reacted correctly and quickly, the ship wouldn’t have wrecked. However, an Italian naval admiral testified in court that even though the helmsman was late in executing the captain’s orders, “the crash would’ve happened anyway.” (The helmsman was one of the four crew members convicted in court for contributing to the disaster.)

A Questionable Evacuation

Former Captain of the Costa Concordia Francesco Schettino speaks with reporters after being aboard the ship with the team of experts inspecting the wreck on February 27, 2014 in Isola del Giglio, Italy. The Italian captain went back onboard the wreck for the first time since the sinking of the cruise ship on January 13, 2012, as part of his trial for manslaughter and abandoning ship.

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. The impact and water leakage caused an electrical blackout on the ship, and a recorded phone call with Costa Crociere’s crisis coordinator, Roberto Ferrarini, shows he tried to downplay and cover up his actions by saying the blackout was what actually caused the accident.

“I have made a mess and practically the whole ship is flooding,” Schettino told Ferrarini while the ship was sinking. “What should I say to the media?… To the port authorities I have said that we had…a blackout.” (Ferrarini was later convicted for contributing to the disaster by delaying rescue operations.)

Schettino also didn’t immediately alert the Italian Search and Rescue Authority about the accident. The impact on the Scole Rocks occurred at about 9:45 p.m. local time, and the first person to contact rescue officials about the ship was someone on the shore, according to the investigative report. Search and Rescue contacted the ship a few minutes after 10:00 p.m., but Schettino didn’t tell them what had happened for about 20 more minutes.

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. Evacuation was made even more chaotic by the ship listing so far to starboard, making walking inside very difficult and lowering the lifeboats on one side, near to impossible. Making things worse, the crew had dropped the anchor incorrectly, causing the ship to flop over even more dramatically.

Through the confusion, the captain somehow made it into a lifeboat before everyone else had made it off. A coast guard member angrily told him on the phone to “Get back on board, damn it!” —a recorded sound bite that turned into a T-shirt slogan in Italy.

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. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. 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.

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

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Trending Today

The Wrecked Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Is Finally Being Towed Away

The ship’s remains will be broken down for scrap metal

Rachel Nuwer

Rachel Nuwer

costa

The MS Costa Concordia , the Italian cruise ship that killed 32 people when it sank off the coast off Isola del Giglio in 2012, has just been sitting off the Tuscan coast ever since. This morning, though, the ship was successfully refloated, the Guardian reports . Environmentalists are relieved since the ship has been marring a marine sanctuary for more than two years, while local residents say they are looking forward to no longer having to see a giant wreck each time they look out to sea. 

Removing the ship entirely, however, will be no easy task. For starters, it's twice as big as the RMS Titanic , the Guardian  points out. So far, however, the plan seems to be working: 

Air was pumped slowly into 30 tanks or "sponsons" attached to both sides of the 290-metre, 114,500-tonne Concordia to expel the water inside, raising it two metres (6.5 feet) off the artificial platform it has rested on since it was righted in September. It will now be towed away from the shore and moored using anchors and cables. Thirty-six steel cables and 56 chains will hold the sponsons in place.

There are going to be substantial risks before the Costa Concordia is gone for good ,  however. As CNN writes , the ship's rotting hull could break off as it is jostled about, which would cause lengthy delays. Or, it could just fall apart entirely. "The worst case scenario is that the ship falls apart during the first six hours as it's raised off the platform -- or that it breaks up somewhere off the coast of Corsica, which is where the Mediterranean's currents are the strongest," CNN continues. Some environmental groups, like Greenpeace, are also concerned that the Costa Concordia will leave a trail of leaky toxic waste in its wake, CNN adds. 

The Costa Concordia 's planned final destination is Genoa, Italy, where it will be broken down into scrap metal. Experts estimate that that process could take as long as two-and-a-half years, CNN writes. 

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Rachel Nuwer

Rachel Nuwer | | READ MORE

Rachel Nuwer is a freelance science writer based in Brooklyn.

The Wreck of the Costa Concordia

  • Alan Taylor
  • January 16, 2012

On the night of Friday, January 13, the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, with more than 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members on board, struck a reef, keeled over, and partially sank off Isola del Giglio, Italy. Six people are now confirmed dead, including two French passengers and one Peruvian crew member, apparently after jumping into the chilly Mediterranean waters after the wreck. Fourteen more people still remain missing, as search and rescue teams continue their efforts to find survivors. The incident occurred only hours into the cruise, and passengers had not yet undergone any lifeboat drills -- that plus the severe list of the ship made evacuation chaotic and frightening. Captain Francesco Schettino has been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. Gathered here are images of the Costa Concordia, as efforts are still underway to find the fourteen passengers that remain missing.

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cruise ship that wrecked in italy

View of the Costa Concordia taken on January 14, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground and keeled over off the Isola del Giglio. Five passengers drowned and about 15 still remain missing after the Italian ship with some 4,200 people on board ran aground. The Costa Concordia was on a trip around the Mediterranean when it apparently hit a reef near the island of Giglio on Friday, only a few hours into its voyage, as passengers were sitting down for dinner. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

This photo acquired by the Associated Press from a passenger of the luxury ship that ran aground off the coast of Tuscany shows fellow passengers wearing life-vests on board the Costa Concordia as they wait to be evacuated, on Saturday, January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leans after it ran aground off the coast of the Isola del Giglio island, Italy, early Saturday, January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Passengers of the Costa Concordia arrive at Porto Santo Stefano on January 14, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground and keeled over the night before. Some of the passengers jumped into the icy waters. The ship was on a cruise in the Mediterranean, leaving from Savona with planned stops in Civitavecchia, Palermo, Cagliari, Palma, Barcelona and Marseille," the company said. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

A survivor of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, arrives at the harbor, in Marseille, southern France, on January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

The Costa Concordia, off the west coast of Italy at Giglio island, on January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

The Costa Concordia leans on its side after running aground, on January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Gashes in the hull of the Costa Concordia, off the west coast of Italy, on January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Firefighters on a dinghy examine a large rock emerging from the side of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, the day after it ran aground on Sunday, January 15, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

The Costa Concordia, surrounded by smaller boats, on Saturday, January 14, 2012, after running aground. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

An evening view of the Costa Concordia, on January 15, 2012 in the harbor of the Tuscan island of Giglio. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

A rescue boat points a light at the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leaning on its side on January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Italian firefighters climb on the Costa Concordia on January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Firemen inspect the Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Rescuers check the sea near the Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground the night before. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

People look at the deck chairs piled on the deck of the leaning Costa Concordia, on January 15, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground on January 13. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Partially submerged cabins of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, photographed on January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

An Italian firefighter helicopter lifts a passenger from the cruise ship Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012. Firefighters worked Sunday to rescue the crew member with a suspected broken leg from the overturned hulk of the luxury cruise liner, 36 hours after it ran aground. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Divers inspect the Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Italian Coast guard personnel pass on the black box of the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia, on January 14, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

Costa Concordia cruise liner captain Francesco Schettino (right) is escorted by a Carabinieri in Grosseto, Italy, on January 14, 2012. Schettino, the captain of the Italian cruise liner that ran aground off Italy's west coast, was arrested on the charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, police said. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

In this underwater photo taken on January 13 and released by the Italian Coast Guard on January 16, 2012, a view of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, after it ran aground near the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

A breach is seen on the body of the cruise ship Costa Concordia in this underwater photo released by the Italian Coast Guard on January 16, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

An Italian Coast guard diver inspects the wreckage of the Costa Concordia on January 16, 2012. Over-reliance on electronic navigation systems and a failure of judgement by the captain are seen as possible reasons for one of the worst cruise liner disasters of all time, maritime specialists say. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

An Italian Coast guard diver inspects inside the Costa Concordia cruise ship on January 16, 2012. #

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

An Italian Coast guard diver swims through debris inside the partially-submerged Costa Concordia, on January 16, 2012. Rescuers resumed a search of the hulk of a giant cruise liner off the west coast of Italy on Monday after bad weather forced them to halt operations, but hopes were fading of finding more survivors. #

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A river flood warning and a rip current statement in effect for 4 regions in the area, key dates in costa concordia shipwreck, trial and cleanup.

Associated Press

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

FILE Seagulls fly in front of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Italy on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration, honoring the 32 people who died but also the extraordinary response by the residents of Giglio who took in the 4,200 passengers and crew from the ship on that rainy Friday night and then lived with the Concordia carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

Italy on Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the Costa Concordia cruise ship wreck off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Here are some key dates in the saga, including the trial of the captain and the remarkable engineering feat to right the liner from its side so it could be towed away for scrap.

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Jan. 13, 2012: The Costa Concordia slams into a reef off Italy's Giglio island after the captain, Francesco Schettino, ordered it taken off course and brought it close to shore in a stunt. It drifts without power until it comes to rest on its side offshore. After weeks of searches, rescue crews confirm 32 people died.

Jan. 15, 2012: Prosecutor Francesco Verusio confirms passenger allegations that Schettino abandoned the Concordia before all the passengers and crew had been evacuated.

Jan. 17, 2012: Schettino is placed under house arrest.

Jan. 17, 2012: Dramatic audio of the shipwreck is broadcast in which Coast Guard Cmdr. Gregorio De Falco uses colorful expletives to order Schettino to get back on board to coordinate the evacuation. “You’ve abandoned ship! I’m in charge now,” De Falco yells. “Go back and report to me how many passengers there are and what they need. ... Perhaps you saved yourself from the sea, but I’ll make you pay for this, damn it!”

Jan. 20, 2012: Costa's CEO tells Italian state TV that Schettino relayed inaccurate information to the company and crew and downplayed the seriousness of the situation after the ship hit the rocks, delaying the mobilization of proper assistance.

July 9, 2013: Schettino goes on trial for manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing the shipwreck. The trial is held in a 1,000-seat theater on the mainland in Grosseto, a spacious venue so survivors and relatives of victims can attend.

July 20, 2013: Five Costa employees are convicted of manslaughter in a separate trial, receiving sentences of less than three years after entering plea bargains.

Sept. 17, 2013: Fog horns wail shortly after 4 a.m. to announce the Concordia had been wrenched from its side and reached vertical after 19-hour operation using chains and weighted tanks to right it from the seabed.

Oct. 8, 2013: The remains of one of the two people still missing is located by divers working on the wreck, later identified as Italian Maria Grazia Trecarichi.

Feb. 1, 2014: A Spanish diver working on the Concordia wreckage dies after apparently gashing his leg on an underwater metal sheet, news reports say.

July 23, 2014: As boat sirens wail and bells toll, the Concordia begins its final voyage as it is towed from Giglio to be turned into scrap. It arrives in Genoa’s shipyard on July 27.

Nov. 3, 2014: The body of Indian waiter Russel Rebello, the last missing victim, is found by crews dismantling the vessel for scrap in Genoa.

Feb. 11, 2015: The court in Grosseto convicts Schettino and sentences him to 16 years in prison for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before passengers and crew had been evacuated, as well as for giving false information about the gravity of the collision.

May 31, 2016: An appeals court in Florence upholds the conviction and sentence for Schettino after both the prosecution and defense appealed. The prosecution sought to toughen the sentence to 27 years while the defense argued that blame didn’t fall solely on Schettino.

May 12, 2017: Schettino loses his final appeal and heads to prison after Italy’s highest Court of Cassation upholds his previous conviction and 16-year sentence.

January 2018: Coast Guard Cmdr. De Falco, who won international fame for his rant against Schettino, nominates himself as a lawmaker for Italy's 5-Star Movement political party. He is expelled from the party later that year.

December, 2021: A Genoa court orders Costa Crociere to pay 92,700 euros ($105,000) to Concordia passenger Ernesto Carusotti in one of the few civil lawsuits to reach a verdict against the company.

This version corrects the spelling of Grosseto.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Delicate Operation to Refloat Costa Concordia Begins in Italy

cruise ship that wrecked in italy

By Gaia Pianigiani

  • July 14, 2014

ROME — Engineers started refloating the deformed hull of the cruise liner Costa Concordia on Monday, a crucial step before its removal from the Tuscan island where it ran aground 30 months ago, taking 32 lives.

“It’s a paramount engineering attempt not just for Italy, but for the whole world,” said Emilio Campana, the director of the research office for naval and maritime engineering at Italy’s National Research Council. “The first risk is that the vessel breaks apart as they lift it. Its structure is damaged and warped. It’s impossible to calculate exactly how it will react.”

The authorities said Monday that the first phase of the undertaking had been successful and that the ship was afloat for the first time since it hit a reef and capsized in early 2012, setting the stage for an operation unparalleled in the annals of marine salvage.

On Monday morning, the Italian authorities blocked the water and airspace around the island of Giglio, to ensure safety and prevent any interference with the refloating operation. In the first six or seven hours of the operation, the wreck will be lifted about seven feet using a pneumatic system, detaching the hull from a platform built nearly 100 feet underwater. The ship has been resting there since September, when engineers managed to right the ship in a spectacular 19-hour operation .

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Nick Sloane, the senior salvage master for Titan Salvage, the American company in charge of the operation, said Monday that he was relieved the weather was cooperating after a night of light rain.

“Nervous? A little,” Mr. Sloane said to reporters on Giglio, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. “Today we’ll find out if the calculations are right, or at least how distant they are from our predictions.”

Over the past few months, as the cost of the removal has swollen from the $300 million initially budgeted to more than $1 billion, workers have fitted 30 huge steel stabilizing containers, known as sponsons, on both sides of the Concordia that will function as floats. As pneumatic devices gradually empty the sponsons of water and fill them with air on both sides, the hull will be lifted upward.

Over the next week, the ship will be raised deck by deck until only 50 feet remains submerged. At that point, the Costa Concordia should be ready to be towed away by tugboats — two at the bow and two at the stern — for its final cruise of nearly 200 nautical miles to the port of Genoa.

“This operation will end only after the ship has been transported to Genoa,” warned Gian Luca Galletti, Italy’s environment minister. “We can’t let our guard down.”

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An Italian official said on Sunday that once the ship is lifted, it will be thoroughly searched for the body of an Indian waiter, the only one of the 32 known fatalities from the accident that has not been recovered.

Further complicating the salvage operation is the potential for environmental damage, particularly the leakage of fuel oil.

“Of course we are worried about the refloating operation, as it is not entirely clear how possible leaks of the Concordia’s toxic liquids will be handled,” Alessandro Giannì, campaign director at Greenpeace Italy, said. “But the weather conditions during the navigation are also a concern.”

After the ship leaves the Tuscan island, workers will begin the environmental recovery phase, which should last several months. Under the current plan, salvage workers will attempt to clean the sea floor and replant the rare marine flora that attracted recreational divers. It was still unclear whether the underwater platform would be left on the island’s sea bottom and used as a diving facility or would be removed.

The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, is facing trial on multiple charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before everyone had disembarked, and in recent months hundreds of witnesses have been giving testimony in court. A company official and four crew members have pleaded guilty to reduced sentences.

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TikTok’s Favorite New ‘Reality Show’:  People on social media have turned the unwitting passengers of a nine-month world cruise  into  “cast members”  overnight.

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Baltimore Bridge Crash Investigators to Examine Whether Dirty Fuel Played Role in Accident

A safety probe into a Baltimore bridge collapse will include whether contaminated fuel played a role in a giant cargo ship losing power and crashing into the span, according to people familiar with the investigation.

Safety investigators hadn’t boarded the ship, called the Dali, late Tuesday afternoon while it remained stuck at a pillar of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. The vessel could remain in that location for weeks. Rescue crews spent much of Tuesday searching for potential survivors.

The lights on the Dali began to flicker about an hour after the ship began its voyage early Tuesday. A harbor pilot and assistant reported power issues and a loss of propulsion before the crash, according to a Coast Guard briefing report viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

“The vessel went dead, no steering power and no electronics,” said an officer aboard the ship Tuesday. “One of the engines coughed and then stopped. The smell of burned fuel was everywhere in the engine room and it was pitch black.” The ship didn’t have time to drop anchors to stop drifting, the officer said. Crew members issued a mayday call before the accident.

Blackouts at sea aren’t common, but they do happen and have long been considered a major accident risk for ships.

One cause is contaminated fuel that can create problems with the ship’s main power generators, said Fotis Pagoulatos, a naval architect in Athens. A complete blackout could result in a ship losing propulsion, he said. Smaller generators can kick in but they can’t carry all the functions of the main ones and take time to fire up.

The investigation will include reviews of the vessel’s operations and safety record as well as those of its owner and operator, said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, during a press conference. Crews will look at securing recorders, similar to a plane’s black box, from the vessel to better understand what happened.

The agency didn’t comment on what issues investigators have uncovered so far in connection with the incident.

“This is a team effort,” said Homendy. “There are a lot of entities right now in the command post.”

The Dali was built in 2015 by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries. The Panamax-type ship, which can carry up to 10,000 containers, is an industry workhorse and one of thousands that regularly transit through the Panama and Suez Canals. While dwarfed by the biggest containerships, a vessel the Dali’s size is typical for U.S. ports on the East Coast. A few days before entering Baltimore’s harbor, the ship had stopped in Norfolk, Va.

The ship has had more than 20 port state control inspections—reviews of foreign ships in national ports—since it was built, according to data from Equasis, an international shipping database. None of the listed inspections resulted in a detention, which could occur when a ship is deemed unfit to travel.

Deficiencies were noted in two such reviews: one done in Belgium in July 2016 that noted hull damage and another in Chile in June 2023 that reported an issue with the ship’s propulsion and auxiliary machinery, Equasis data show. The U.S. Coast Guard completed an examination of the vessel in September 2023 and didn’t identify any issues.

On the voyage Tuesday, Singapore-based Synergy Marine Group operated the vessel and it was hauling cargo for Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk. The nearly 1,000-foot-long ship departed from a terminal at the Port of Baltimore and was heading to Sri Lanka. A Singaporean company, Grace Ocean Pte., owns the ship.

Two tugboats helped the ship steer out of the terminal Tuesday, but they pulled back early in the voyage, according to port officials. There were two pilots and 22 crew members from India aboard the vessel during the crash, said Darrell Wilson, a spokesman for Synergy Marine.

The ship was moving around 9.2 mph, according to authorities, which is typical for vessels traveling in the area. Ships as large as the Dali need to maintain a certain speed to avoid being pushed around by winds and currents.

The bridge collapse is set to lead to a multibillion-dollar string of insurance claims, covering everything from the loss of the structure itself to the disruption to businesses using the port, insurance analysts said. The Francis Scott Key Bridge was built in 1977 at a cost more than $60 million, which is around $300 million today when adjusted for inflation. Victims of the crash could also file claims against the ship operator.

The scale and complicated nature of the losses mean litigation is inevitable, analysts and academics said.

“You can write off the next 10 years in court actions,” said Robert Merkin, a law professor at the University of Reading.

Reinsurers, which take on risks sold to them by insurers, “will bear the bulk of the insured cost,” said Mathilde Jakobsen, a senior director at ratings firm AM Best.

The ship’s insurer, Britannia P&I Club, belongs to a group of specialized marine insurers that have reinsurance cover of up to $3.1 billion per vessel. Britannia said it is working to “help ensure that this situation is dealt with quickly and professionally.”

Claims on the ship’s coverage could be complicated by quirks in marine insurance law, such as a convention that limits liability based on the ship’s value.

One of the biggest claims in recent years was associated with the Costa Concordia, a cruise ship that sank near an Italian island in 2012. Thirty-two people died in the incident, and insurers paid more than $2 billion to claimants, according to London-based marine insurers. The 2022 fire and sinking of the car carrier, Felicity Ace, resulted in more than $500 million paid out under insurance policies.

Jean Eaglesham contributed to this article.

Write to Costas Paris at [email protected]

Baltimore Bridge Crash Investigators to Examine Whether Dirty Fuel Played Role in Accident

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Who owns the ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore?

By Megan Cerullo

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: March 26, 2024 / 5:05 PM EDT / CBS News

The collapse of  Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday after being struck by a cargo ship has raised questions about who owns and manages the ship, as well as on the potential impact on one the busiest ports in the U.S.

Called the Dali, the 948-foot vessel that hit the bridge is managed by Synergy Marine Group, a Singapore-based company with over 660 ships under management around the world, according to its website . The group said the ship was operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group and chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk at the time of the incident, which sent vehicles and people tumbling into the Patapsco River.

"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected," Maersk said in a statement to CBS News Tuesday, in which it also confirmed the ship was carrying cargo for Maersk customers. The company had no crew or personnel aboard the ship.

The Dali, which can carry up to 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, was carrying nearly 4,700 containers at the time of the collision. It was operated by a 22-person, Indian crew. It was not immediately clear what kind of cargo the ship was carrying. 

Who owns and manages the Dali?

The Dali is owned by Grace Ocean Private, a Singapore-based company that provides water transportation services. The ship was chartered by Danish container shipping company Maersk at the time of the collision.

Synergy Marine, founded in 2006, provides a range of ship management services, including managing ships' technical components and their crews and overseeing safety, according to S&P Capital IQ. Its parent company, Unity Group Holdings International, an investment holding company, was founded in 2008 and is based in Hong Kong.

Where was the ship headed?

The outbound ship had left Baltimore and was headed for Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, Synergy Marine Group said in a  press release . 

How busy is the Port of Baltimore?

In 2023, the Port of Baltimore handled a record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo, worth $80 billion, according  to the office of Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. The port is also a significant provider of local jobs. 

The top port in the U.S. for sugar and gypsum imports, it is the ninth busiest U.S. port by the total volume and value of foreign cargo handled. All vessel traffic into and out of the facility is currently suspended, although the port remains open and trucks continue to be processed within the its terminals, according to a statement release by Port of Baltimore officials. 

What is the potential local economic impact?

Directly, the port supports 15,300 jobs, while another 140,000 in the area are related to port activities. The jobs provide a combined $3.3 billion in personal income, according to a CBS News report . The Port of Baltimore said Tuesday that it is unclear how long ship traffic will be suspended.

The disaster also caused chaos for local drivers. The Maryland Transportation Authority said all lanes were closed in both directions on I-695, with traffic being detoured to I-95 and I-895.

How could the bridge collapse affect consumers and businesses?

Experts say the bridge collapse could cause significant supply chain disruptions.

"While Baltimore is not one of the largest U.S. East Coast ports, it still imports and exports more than 1 million containers each year, so there is the potential for this to cause significant disruption to supply chains," Emily Stausbøll, a market analyst at Xeneta, an ocean and air freight analytics platform, said in a statement. 

She added that freight services from Asia to the East Coast in the U.S. have already been hampered by drought in the Panama Canal, as well as risks related to conflict in the Red Sea. Nearby ports, including those in New York, New Jersey and Virginia, will be relied on to handle more shipments if Baltimore remains inaccessible. 

Whether ocean freight shipping rates will rise dramatically, potentially affecting consumers as retailers pass along higher costs, will depend on how much extra capacity the alternate ports can handle, Stausbøll said. "However, there is only so much port capacity available and this will leave supply chains vulnerable to any further pressure."

Marty Durbin, senior vice president of policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that the bridge is a critical connector of "people, businesses, and communities."

"Unfortunately, its prolonged closure will likely disrupt commercial activities and supply chains that rely on the bridge and Port of Baltimore each day," he said in a statement.

What other industries could be affected?

Trucking companies could be severely affected by the disaster. 

"Aside from the obvious tragedy, this incident will have significant and long-lasting impacts on the region," American Trucking Associations spokesperson Jessica Gail said, calling Key Bridge and Baltimore's port "critical components'' of the nation's infrastructure.

Gail noted that 1.3 million trucks cross the bridge every year — 3,600 a day. Trucks that carry hazardous materials will now have to make 30 miles of detours around Baltimore because they are prohibited from using the city's tunnels, she said, adding to delays and increasing fuel costs.

"Time-wise, it's going to hurt us a lot," added Russell Brehm, the terminal manager in Baltimore for Lee Transport, which trucks hazardous materials such as petroleum products and chemicals. The loss of the bridge will double to two hours the time it takes Lee to get loads from its terminal in Baltimore's Curtis Bay to the BJ's gasoline station in the waterfront neighborhood of Canton, he estimated.

Cruise operators are also being affected. A Carnival cruise ship that set off Sunday for the Bahamas had been scheduled to return to Baltimore on March 31. Carnival said Tuesday it is "currently evaluating options for Carnival Legend's scheduled return on Sunday." The company also has cruises scheduled to set sail from Baltimore through the summer. 

Norwegian Cruise Line last year introduced new routes departing from the Port of Baltimore. Its sailings are scheduled for late this year. The company said the Key Bridge collapse doesn't immediately require it to reroute any ships.

Who will pay to rebuild the bridge?

President Biden said Tuesday that the federal government, with congressional support, would pay to rebuild the bridge.

"We're going to work with our partners in Congress to make sure the state gets the support it needs. It's my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge," Biden said in comments from the White House. "And I expect the Congress to support my effort. This is going take some time. The people of Baltimore can count on us though, to stick with them, at every step of the way, till the port is reopened and the bridge is rebuilt."

—The Associated Press contributed to this report.

img-6153.jpg

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News Streaming to discuss her reporting.

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What to know about the massive ship that crashed into the Baltimore bridge

The cargo ship Dali is a Singaporean-flagged vessel.

A giant container ship struck a bridge in the Baltimore harbor early Tuesday morning, collapsing the structure and sending construction workers into the water.

Rescuers are searching for six people, officials said. Two people have been rescued, including one who is currently hospitalized in very serious condition, officials added.

The Singapore-flagged cargo ship, Dali, spans a length of 984 feet and a width of 157 feet, a VesselFinder listing showed. It holds 22 crew members, all of whom are based in India.

MORE: Baltimore Key Bridge collapse live updates: Ship lost propulsion, warned of collision, CISA report says

The ship departed from the Port of Baltimore at 1 a.m. on Tuesday, embarking on a 27-day journey to Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The ship "lost propulsion" as it was leaving the port and warned Maryland officials of a possible collision, according to officials.

The crew notified officials that they had lost control and traffic was stopped onto the bridge.

Synergy Group confirmed the collision in a statement to ABC News, saying the ship had been piloted by two individuals during the incident. The pilots of the ship were local, officials said at a press conference.

PHOTO: In this aerial image, the steel frame of the Francis Scott Key Bridge sits on top of a container ship after the bridge collapsed, Baltimore, March 26, 2024

The waterway into and out of the port is closed and there is no other route into the port, which is the second busiest port in the Mid-Atlantic.

The collision took place at about 1:30 a.m., according to MarineTraffic, a maritime-tracking company.

Singapore-based company Grace Ocean is the listed owner of Dali. While the ship is managed by a firm called Synergy Group.

MORE: The history of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge

All crew members, including the two pilots, have been accounted for and there are no reports of any injuries, the company said. The collision did not result in any pollution, the firm added.

Dali had been chartered by Danish shipping firm Maersk, company listings showed. Earlier this month, the ship traveled through the Panama Canal to Newark, New Jersey, before voyaging to Norfolk, Virginia, and finally reaching the Port of Baltimore, the listings said.

"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected," Maersk told ABC News in a statement.

PHOTO: A view of the Dali cargo vessel which crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse in Baltimore, March 26, 2024.

"We are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and Synergy, and we will do our utmost to keep our customers informed." the company added, noting that no employees of Maersk were onboard.

Dali was involved in a collision in 2016 when the container ship collided with the quayside in Antwerp, Belgium, according to VesselFinder.

That incident occurred one year after the ship was built, VesselFinder data showed.

ABC News' Emily Shapiro, Aaron Katersky, Sam Sweeney, Laura Romero and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.

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Cargo ship that hit Baltimore bridge was involved in Antwerp collision in 2016

The Dali was reportedly detained in Belgium after scraping side of quay and significantly damaging part of hull in good weather

  • How Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapsed – a visual guide

The same vessel that hit the Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge on Tuesday, destroying it and sending people and vehicles tumbling into the water, was also involved in a collision while leaving the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016.

According to Vessel Finder and the maritime incident archive Shipwrecklog, the Dali – a 948ft (290-meter) cargo ship with a capacity of 10,000 containers – was leaving the container terminal of Antwerp heading to Bremerhaven.

As it did so, its bow reportedly swung around, causing the stern to scrape the side of the quay, significantly damaging several meters of the hull.

The ship was reportedly detained by authorities afterward and docked in Deurganckdok, Belgium . There were reportedly no injuries or adverse pollution.

According to Vessel Finder , the weather was fine at the time, and the incident was reportedly blamed on the ship’s master and pilot on board.

What are flags of convenience?

A ship flying a flag of convenience means the owner has registered the vessel in a country other than their own. The ship flies the ensign or flag of that country, known as the flag state and operates under its laws, typically laxer than the owner’s own.

For a ship owner, the advantage of this arrangement includes comparatively fewer regulations, lower employment requirements, and thus cheaper labour, cheaper registration fees and lower or no taxes.

For crew members, the disadvantages tend towards lower working standards, fewer rights and little protection. They are opposed by the International Transport Workers' Federation.

Panama, which has the largest ship registry globally, followed by Liberia, operates an “open registry”, allowing foreign owners to register ships under its flag. It guarantees anonymity to the owners, making it difficult for them to be held to account.

The practice began in the 1920s in the US, when owners of cruise ships registered their vessels in Panama so that they could serve their passengers alcohol during Prohibition.

Karen McVeigh , senior reporter

It is unclear what crew were aboard the ship. Vessel Finder said at the time that the ship, which was built in South Korea in 2015 by Hyundai Heavy Industries, was owned by the Greek company Oceanbulk Maritime but was chartered by Maersk.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) confirmed on Tuesday that the Dali was registered in Singapore and had 22 crew on board, with Maersk adding in a statement that the crew were all Indian but none of them were Maersk crew or personnel. It said the ship was operated by the charter vessel company Synergy Group.

Maersk has been approached for comment.

About 2.6km (1.6 miles) of the Baltimore bridge collapsed on Tuesday when the Dali crashed into it, causing a number of vehicles to fall into the Patapsco River below. At least seven people were being searched for with two rescued, including one in critical condition, officials said on Tuesday at a pre-dawn press conference.

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A drone view of the Dali cargo vessel, which crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse, in Baltimore

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