Thread: Costa Concordia runs aground, listing heavily

Cost Concordia: Massive evacuation underway after cruise ship starts sinking off Italian coast | Mail Online

A major rescue operation is under way after a packed cruise liner with more than 4,000 passengers and crew on board began sinking off the Italian coast tonight

Several British holidaymakers were on the Costa Concordia which had left port at 7pm for a seven-day Mediterranean Cruise - but within two hours of leaving port, it ground to a halt in the sea with a major electrical fault.
Coastguards were immediately dispatched to the scene as terrified passengers were ordered to put on live vests and man life boats as the 290 metre luxury floating palace began to list heavily to one side.

The drama unfolded near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast, after the Costa Concordia, one of the biggest ships in the Costa cruise fleet with 1,500 cabins, had left the port of Civitavecchia and was sailing north to Savona, its first port of call.

Passenger Luciano Castro told Italian media: 'We were having dinner when all of a sudden the lights went out.

'It seemed as if the ship struck something and then we heard a load bang and everything fell to the floor.

'The captain immediately came on the tannoy and said that there had been an electrical fault but it seemed very strange as the ship almost immediately began to list to one side. The glasses just slid off the table.

'We were then told to put on our lifevests and head to the life boats just to be safe but there was a real panic onboard you could see it in the faces of the people especially those with young families.

'Then a few minutes later there were seven whistles which meant everyone had to get in the lifeboats.'

Another passenger Mara Parmegiani said: 'It was just like something out of the Titanic.

'You could tell straight away that the ship had hit something and no way was it an electrical fault.'

Giglio's mayor Sergio Ortelli said: 'We are on full emergency alert and we are preparing to receive the life boats with the passengers onboard.'

A webcam on the website of Costa Cruises showed the position of the £450million six-year-old Concordia just off the coast near Giglio with a caption reading: 'Data transmission is temporarily suspended.'

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...a_2109032b.jpg

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Whoa. Not good. Thanks for the update Curtis.

Two deaths so far...

It is now up to 8 reported deaths.

http://www.tiziano.caviglia.name/ima...oncordia-2.jpg

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Looks like she's rolled onto her side.

You can see it to the left on her side.

It would appear this loss of life was preventable which makes the incident even sadder. Condollences to those lost and their families.