Italian cruise ship aground - at least 3 dead

[New3M]

From the AP:


ROME (AP) -- The Italian coast guard says a luxury cruise ship has run aground off the coast of Tuscany and that at least three bodies have been retrieved from the sea.
Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo told The Associated Press by telephone from the port city of Livorno early Saturday that there are "probably" at least three more dead, although he hasn't received confirmation of those three. He said helicopters are evacuating some 50 people still aboard the Costa Concordia liner near the Tuscan island of Giglio.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
ROME (AP) - The Italian news agency ANSA says a luxury cruise ship with 4,200 people aboard has run aground off the Tuscan coast and that at least 6 people have died.
The report early Saturday said the Costa Concordia ran aground a few hundred meters (yards) off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, and that the passengers were being evacuated.
A statement from Costa Cruises, the company that runs the ship, confirmed that the evacuation of the 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew had begun, "but the position of the ship which is worsening is making more difficult the last part of the evacuation."
Costa Cruises' statement did not mention any casualties, and said it had not yet determined the cause of the problem.
ANSA news agency quoted unidentified rescuers as saying six people were dead. ANSA quoted journalists who happened to be passengers aboard as telling ANSA that the evacuees were being sheltered in schools, hotels and a church on the vacation island.
Costa Cruises said the Costa Concordia was sailing on a cruise across the Mediterranean Sea, starting from Civitavecchia with scheduled calls to Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.
It said about 1,000 Italian passengers were onboard, as well as more than 500 Germans, about 160 French and about 1,000 crew members.

[KennyW1983]

The miracle will be if only 3 people were killed.

[PMC]

From a news release:

Passengers were heavily critical of the response by the crew and said they had been left with no information.
"After approximately 20 minutes a voice told us there was a problem with the electricity that they were trying to fix," said Luciano Castro.
"The ship continued to tilt further, after 15 minutes they said again it was a problem with the electricity, but no one believed it," he said adding that once the evacuation began, the increasing tilt of the ship made the operation more difficult.

FYI

All passenger ship crew members are required to take crowd and crisis management course. A basic premise of the course is to relay accurate information to passengers in the event of an emergency: Explain what the problem is. Identify what is being done to address the problem. Accurate information will help alleviate panic.

Hmmm....

[PMC]

Another news release:

'Some of the crew were telling us to go back to our cabins while others were saying go to the life boats..

[HAMANAV]

Is it true that the Captain told everyone to stay in their rooms and then abandoned the ship?

[Steamer]

Is it true that the Captain told everyone to stay in their rooms and then abandoned the ship?

Who knows, maybe he was a classmate of the captain of the Oceanos.

[Capt.Felix]

Is it true that the Captain told everyone ton stay in their rooms and then abandoned the ship?

Not sure if the capt told people to stay our go to cabins, but it was reported that the captain did indeed abandon ship, he was later found by local police in town.... COWARD..

[Sweat-n-Grease]

Not sure if the capt told people to stay our go to cabins, but it was reported that the captain did indeed abandon ship, he was later found by local police in town.... COWARD..

I saw him on the Sunday evening news, he didn't appear to be too remorseful for what happened under his command.