Costa Concordia

[Collision-course]

Latest updates on the capsize of the Costa Concordia , still 15 people missing at this time.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16570281

[Collision-course]

This story just grows and grows , it now seems the ship was 3 miles off course , and also appears the captain had to be ordered back onto the ship to complete the evacuation. , the current death toll now stands at 17.

[larry]

have you read the transcript of the conversation between the captain and the coast guard

[giftgrub]

A totally bizarre series of events led to this disaster and we can only be thankful it happened near the coast. If something like that happened in one of the Arctic or Antarctic cruises there would have been a very different outcome.

I have to say that reading the transcripts, it sounded like a monty python style sketch.

This has been a big warning to the cruise and ferry industry which hopefully they will all learn something from.

[Kieran]

Not even Monty Python could have come up with a story that mad.

It's insane, and the captain now claims he "fell" into a lifeboat....

[larry]

That bit cracked me up, apparently he ordered dinner after he crashed the ship too

[giftgrub]

Not forgetting that people have died in this event and it is serious stuff, but this skit is quite similar to what the captain might have said, judging by his transcript.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-QNAwUdHUQ

[larry]

agreed, this tragedy has almost adopted a humorous edge on the web simply because it was so incredibly unbelievable and bizarre the behaviour of the captain and some members of the senior crew

[Collision-course]

There are now T-Shirts being sold in Italy with the slogan "Get back onboard damn it!" , again not trying to take away from the seriousness of the incident , but you would'nt see this kind of thing of Father Ted.

[larry]

i want one of these t-shirts, im off to ebay. you wouldnt even see that behaviour in father teds holiday carivan

[Collision-course]

Have been going over the details of the technical investigation into the loss of Costa Concordia , some truly shocking and disgraceful failures on the night , and it seems the "hand of God" was at work that night as most passengers are only alive because an abnormal wind turned the ship around and pushed it half a mile into shallow water where it came to rest.
One issue that seems to jump out is the need for extendable davit arms so that life boats can be lowered even when a ship is at full tilt.
As for the captain , well abandoning a ship that still had 1500 people aboard of which 300 were CHILDREN speaks for itself.

[FerryMan]

Reuters Live: Costa Concordia cruise ship salvage operation, Giglio Island, Italy

http://live.reuters.com/Event/Raising_the_Costa_Concordia

gCaptain: update feed.
Costa Concordia Parbuckling – How to WATCH

http://gcaptain.com/costa-concordia-parbuckling-watch-live/

[larry]

thanks for that link, all the other feeds seem to be overpowered

[giftgrub]

More info on this massive operation here:

http://www.theparbucklingproject.com/

[FerryMan]

On More4 tonight 23:05-00:10 Terror at sea: The sinking Costa Concordia FIRST BROADCAST: Tue 31 January 2012