On Friday 13th January 2012, the world of cruise was struck by one of the largest tragedies to hit the industry in years. What started as story of the Costa Concordia running aground off the coast of the small Italian island of Giglio, has turned into a story of lost lives and mass press coverage.
The Costa Concordia ran aground late on Friday, causing a huge gash in the side of the ship and shortly after for the ship to be listing at a 20° angle, while the crew did their utmost to get the passengers safely ashore. By Saturday morning, stories were in the press of the tragic loss of six lives, caused by a ship being off its usual course and hitting a rock. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office moved quickly to release a statement that all British passengers had been accounted for.
Over the past two weeks there have been rescue missions, seeing expert divers searching the ship for any signs of life. The latest stories report that 16 people lost their lives in the tragedy and a similar number of passengers and crew remain missing.
The Costa Concordia remains precariously balanced on rocks off the Tuscan coastline as plans are made to safely remove all the fuel and hazardous waste. Salvage experts have stated that the fuel must be carefully warmed, before being pumped off the ship. Current reports estimate that this could take a further two weeks to complete. The ship is also surrounded by booms to prevent any leaked fuel, of which none has been discovered, is contained to prevent further environmental damage.
Costa Cruises have attributed blame to the ship's Captain, for not following the correct course and not following their safety procedures. Captain Francesco Schettino remains under house arrest in Italy while charges are being built.
Over the past couple of weeks the press have run countless articles as who is to blame, what the captain did wrong and reporting the tragedy of the lost lives. As it stands this tragedy remains in the press while investigators get to the bottom of what happened and how this could have been prevented.
So, how will this affect the cruise industry? Surely more stringent safety measures will come into play, more scrutiny will be placed on Captains and discussions as to how the industry can regain its reputation. There are reports in Italy that salutes — where ships sail close to the coastline — will be outlawed.
Safety records within cruise have showed it to be one of the safest forms of transports and one of the safest ways to holiday, but will this anomaly be treated as such? Will first time cruisers be put off?
Whatever comes from this accident, the cruise industry has to work to make sure something like this never happens again and to ensure crew and passengers are fully prepared for an emergency.
At Iglu, we delayed reporting the story until their was something more conclusive and factual to share. Over the next few weeks we will be looking into the safety aspects of cruising and how the industy might look in the future.
The world of cruising has been rocked by this unexpected and highly unusual accident and our thoughts are with all involved.
Written by Stephen Adam
© Iglucruise