More bodies found in Concordia cruise wreck

Last Modified: 22 Mar 2012 19:26 Death toll goes up to 30 with discovery of three more bodies two months after cruise liner sank off Italian coast. Searchers have found five more bodies in the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which had struck a reef off the Italian coast in January, an Italian official has said. Thursday's discovery, two months after the initial capsizing, raises the number of bodies found to 28. Another two people are presumed dead as their bodies remain missing. Franco Gabrielli, the civil protection agency head in charge of search and salvage operations, told reporters about the latest body discoveries during a visit to the island of Giglio. All five bodies, three first and two more later, were discovered to the rear of the vessel, the agency said. It would likely be several days before the bodies could be removed as it would be a complicated operation using robots, head of the agency, Franco Gabrielli, told reporters in Giglio after three of the five bodies had been found. "During activities in preparation for the use of robots to follow up on the possibility that some of the bodies could be trapped between the hull and the sea bed, we located three new bodies" he said of the initial discovery. "In the next few days the technicians of the Civil Protection, the fire brigade, the navy and the coast guard will go and prepare everything that is needed to recover of the bodies, for the physical recovery of these bodies, which will allow some families to finally mourn their loved ones," Gabrielli said. The 114,500-tonne Costa Concordia was on a trip around the Mediterranean when a coast guard official at the time said it "hit an obstacle" near the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany. More than 4,000 people were aboard the luxury ship. The luxury cruise ship - boasting of 58 suites with balconies, five restaurants, 13 bars, five Jacuzzis and four swimming pools - had set off from the Civitavecchia port near Rome earlier. The ship's owner, Costa Cruises, said salvagers would complete operations to pump more than 2,300 tonnes of fuel out of the capsized vessel on Friday, removing the threat of an oil spill in the surrounding marine reserve. The captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, was detained under charges of manslaughter. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/03/2012322171555909359.html 1.    What is the link to Crisis Management? Wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which had struck a reef off the Italian coast in January, has a confirmed death toll of 30 with discovery of five more bodies. There were also fears of marine pollution due to the fuel reserves onboard the ship, which were not removed till recently. 2.    What stage of Crisis Management does the system appear to be at? The system is in a full out crisis mode. With 30 confirmed dead, and 2 still missing, things cannot get any worse than this. Furthermore, the captain of the ship has manslaughter charges against him, and there is speculation over the impact of the ships 2300 tonnes of fuel reserves on the marine environment. 3.    How well does the system appear to be handling the situation? There is no clear inclination from this article whether or how Costa Cruises or its parent company has helped out in this situation. It is clear however that the civil protection agency has taken charge of the search and salvage operations. It’s already been 2 months since this accident occurred, and the fact that the search and salvage operation is ongoing with new bodies still being discovered shows that the system is quite inefficient and was not prepared to handle a situation such as this. 4.    What level of crisis preparedness does the system appear to have? The system appears to have little or no level of crisis preparedness. As in the case with the Titanic, I feel that the ship's owners thought it was invincible. Hence there doesn’t seem to be a contingency plan. Additionally, as discussed above, it has already been 2 months since this accident occurred, and the fact that the search and salvage operation is ongoing and excess fuel reserves not being removed till recently signals no crisis preparedness. External to this article, I was informed that the captain of the ship was charged with manslaughter because he fled the ship right after the accident (suggesting he didn’t know what to do and just ran from the situation). 5.    What personal reactions/feelings does the description trigger in you? This description makes me feel insecure around the safety protocols of ships as there is no mention of the company’s safety protocols nor if there was any security commission regarding safety of ships/cruises. The fact that the captain was charged with manslaughter makes me think about the proper procedures of hiring staff and whether or not alcohol or drugs were involved. It seems like this tragedy could have been prevented if the ship captain did not drive so close to the shore. However before fully condemning the ship captain, I would like to know the exact details of what went on before the crash. 6.    What advice would you offer to those involved? Costa Cruises needs to conduct further investigation to see what exactly happened on board the ship and address this to the public. A hotline should be set up, if not already in place, for inquiries by families of the deceased or injured. I would go one step further by providing grief counsellors. The parent company needs to salvage its name because until this case is settled, they will have a very hard time attracting tourists because of what happened with Costa Cruises. Lastly Costa Cruises and the parent company should be prepared for a full fledged law suit coming their way. Furthermore, the ship captain should be prepared to spend a long time in jail if he is convicted.