Cruise Ship Crashes Causes Devastation to Travelers

The cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground on Friday, Jan. 13 near the Italian coast just two hours after leaving the port of Savona that evening, according to MSNBC. A 165-foot gash was torn into the hull of the ship near the Tuscan island of Giglio. The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is considered to be at fault for the sinking. Schettino brought the ship too close to shore, supposedly to salute and show the ship to the island's residents, some of whom were relatives of crew members. The Costa Concordia then collided with offshore rocks, causing extensive damage and the ship began to take on water and sink. 

Costa Cruises reported that the evacuation of the ship's 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members began immediately, but the evacuation was "disorganized" and made worse by the ship's tilt and position on the rocks, which made the use of lifeboats very difficult. Some passengers were thrown into the ocean, and many had to be removed from the ship by helicopter. 

While crew members and the Italian coast guard worked to evacuate the ship, Captain Schettino was found in the safety of a life raft while passengers were still onboard. A conversation was also recorded between the captain and a coast guard official in which the captain refused the official's orders to return to the ship and denied that he had abandoned it. Schettino insisted that he had been accidentally thrown from the ship as it rocked, a claim viewed with skepticism. Schettino is currently under house arrest and will face charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship, which can result in over a decade in prison.

Costa Cruises is currently concerned with the reported 2,400 tons of fuel on the ship, which could be released into the surrounding ocean via leaks or a shifting of the ship, whose precarious position has made search and rescue efforts difficult for divers. After a week, the death toll of the tragedy is up to 11. 29 missing persons, including American passengers Gerald and Barbara Heil, several German citizens and Italian passengers and crew.