The Italian Coast Guard has released photos of the rescue effort at the cruise ship Costa Concordia near Giglio Island, Italy.
On Tuesday January 17, Warrant Petty Officer Massimo Macaroni of the Italian Coast Guard said the casualty count from the disaster stood at six dead, and 29 missing: 25 passengers and four crew members.
Early Tuesday, rescue efforts were ongoing in and around the mammoth vessel, which was listing on its side off the island of Giglio.
The Costa Concordia hit rocks Friday night just off Italy's western coast, leading to what passengers described as a chaotic and surreal scene to evacuate and the deaths of at least six people.
Divers have been searching the skyscraper-sized ship, working underwater in pitch blackness, in hopes of finding the missing.
There were roughly 4,200 people on the Costa Concordia when it ran aground -- about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members.
The ship weighs in at more than 114,000 gross tonnage and measures 951 feet in length. Its maximum speed was designed to be 23 knots.
The disaster's impact on earnings will cost the ship's owner at least $85 million to $95 million in the fiscal year to November, parent company Carnival Corporation said.
Built in 2006, the Concordia had been on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.
- NEW: 28 people from seven countries are missing, Italian authorities say
- Coast Guards ordered the captain to return to the ship, a newspaper reports
- Divers are in the process of retrieving the second data recorder
- The head of the company that owns the ship holds out hope of finding survivors
Giglio, Italy (CNN) -- Divers trying to locate survivors of the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident used explosives to blow a hole in the hull of the vessel to allow access for search-and-rescue teams, Italian Navy officials said Tuesday.
A total of 28 people remain missing following the wreck, which led to six deaths, Italian officials said Tuesday.
The list includes 14 Germans, six Italians, including a crew member, four French people, two Americans, and one each from Hungary, India and Peru, all of whom are crew members.
One person on that list was found dead Monday, but authorities have not specified which one it is.
Fears of oil spill near cruise ship 
Training ship captains to avoid disaster 
Concordia investigation just beginning The German Foreign Ministry said earlier Tuesday that 12 Germans were unaccounted for.
The announcement came on the same day that Italy's Coast Guard said it has located a second "black box," or data recorder, from the ship that wrecked off Italy's western coast Friday evening.
Operations were under way to retrieve the recorder, said Coast Guard Warrant Petty Officer Massimo Macaroni.
Information from the device, along with that from another that has already been recovered and is being analyzed by prosecutors, will provide authorities with "a complete picture of how the disaster unfolded," Macaroni said.
Meanwhile, an Italian newspaper printed excerpts of a conversation between the captain and coast guards on shore during the incident.
Capt. Francesco Schettino gave contradictory answers about whether he had abandoned the ship, prompting authorities on shore to instruct him to return to it.
"Commander, this is an order. Now I am in charge. You have abandoned ship," the unnamed coast guard says, telling him to go back to the vessel and coordinate rescue efforts.
Prosecutor Francesco Verusio confirmed that the partial conversation printed in Corriere della Serra matched a transcript prosecutors had.
Authorities questioned Schettino at a closed hearing Tuesday, his attorney said.
Questions abound for captain of doomed cruise ship
Disaster management amid cruise sinking 
Survivors from Italian cruise ship speak 
American survivors of shipwreck speak He is under arrest and may face charges that include manslaughter, shipwreck, and abandoning a ship when passengers were still on board, Verusio said.
Schettino could face up to 15 years in prison, the prosecutor said.
The captain's attorney, Bruno Leporatti, said in a statement Monday that Schettino was "shattered, dismayed, saddened for the loss of lives and strongly disturbed."
But, he said, Schettino is "nonetheless comforted by the fact that he maintained during those moments the necessary lucidity to put in place a difficult emergency maneuver ... bringing the ship to shallow waters." That move, Leporatti said, saved the lives of many passengers and crew members.
Italian prosecutors have ruled out a technical error as the cause of the incident, saying the captain was on the bridge at the time and had made a "grave error."
Overheard on CNN.com: Worst-case scenario strikes
The Costa Concordia hit rocks Friday night just off Italy's western coast, leading to what passengers described as a chaotic and surreal scene as they rushed to evacuate.
Early Tuesday, rescue efforts continued in and around the mammoth vessel, which was listing on its side off the island of Giglio.
Divers have been searching the skyscraper-sized ship, working underwater in pitch blackness, in hopes of finding the missing. There were roughly 4,200 people on the Costa Concordia when it ran aground -- about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members.
Coast Guard: Ship too close to island 
�Map shows location of disaster Map shows location of disaster
The Costa Concordia, owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises, ran aground on a sand bank off the island of Giglio on Friday, January 13. 
Firemen search for missing people in and around the partially submerged Costa Concordia cruise ship on Monday, January 16. 
Firemen work on the Costa Concordia cruise ship on Monday. The captain may have made "significant" errors that led to wreck, the cruise line said late Sunday. 
Military rescuers patrol next to the listing Costa Concordia on Sunday January 15. A spiraling water slide can be seen on the deck. 
Boats patrol near the Costa Concordia on Sunday. Divers searched for people who were still missing after Friday's accident. 
Rescuers search the Costa Concordia on Sunday. 
Emergency services work from the island of Giglio on Sunday, near where the cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground. 
The ship has a breach on the hull about 90 meters (300 feet) long, according to Officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno. 
On Saturday, January 14, crowds prepare to leave the island of Giglio, where passengers were staying after the ship ran aground. 
The Concordia, built in 2006, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Cagliari and Palermo, Italy; Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Marseille, France. 
Passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, on Saturday after being evacuated from the ship. 
Costa says the emergency operation continues and that it is helping passengers and crew return home. 
Italian police assist in the rescue after the cruise ship ran aground near the Italian island of Giglio. 
The huge ship, which which is now lying on its side in shallow water, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground at about dinner time. 
Passengers arrive on land after they were rescued. There was chaos as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. 
Evacuation efforts started promptly but were made "extremely difficult" by the position of the listing ship. 
The Costa Concordia cruise ship is pictured in March 2009 in Civitavecchia, Rome's tourist port. 
Cruise ship runs aground off Italy The head of the company that owns the ship said Monday he has not given up hope of finding survivors.
"Hope is the last thing to die," said Costa cruises chairman and chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi.
Prosecutors are considering whether others may share responsibility for the crash with the captain.
Foschi placed blame for the wreck squarely on the captain, however, saying Schettino had deviated from frequently traveled routes.
"The captain decided to change the route and he went into water that he did not know in advance," Foschi said.
The ship had about 2,300 tons of fuel on board at the time of the wreck, Foschi said, adding that so far there was "absolutely no evidence of fuel leaking into the sea."
Foschi said passengers would get "material compensation for their loss," but declined to go into details.
One person who was scheduled to board the Concordia Saturday said he was offered a refund, but will not get the refund for three months.
Survivors described the panic that ensued after the ship's collision with the rocks.
"Debris was flying ... pandemonium just started," said Georgia Ananias, who was in a dining room. "It was horrible, and people were slipping and falling."
Others described a tumultuous ordeal trying to board life boats, in part because the tilt of the ship made boarding some boats difficult.
"When we finally got on the life boat, it took several minutes to get everybody on," Valerie Ananias said. "People were screaming and crying."
Built in 2006, the Concordia had been on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.
CNN's Livia Borghese, Hada Messia, Jim Boulden, Dan Rivers and Richard Allen Greene contributed to this report.
Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_world/~3/AwIWdhjQtws/index.html
abc world news anchor abc world news birth order abc world news for kids abc world news intro abc world news japan
No comments:
Post a Comment