Following the horrific Costa Concordia incident, Francesco Schettino was dubbed “Captain Coward” by the media. The expedition, which was scheduled to last a week, started in January 2012 from Civitavecchia, Italy. But the cruise sank after hitting rocks in the Tyrrhennian Sea. Schettino received a 16-year sentence for the crash, which claimed 32 lives. Although this occurrence was widely reported by Italian news channels, there have been several ship disasters in recent years.
A disastrous voyage
The Costa Concordia, carrying 3,200 passengers and more than 1,000 crew members, sailed on its regular route on January 13, 2012. Schettino, however, took a detour to sail near Giglio Island as a “salute.” The tour struck submerged pebbles as they got closer to the island, puncturing the hull and flooding the controls. The ship lost power instantly and started to drift. A poorly planned evacuation led to mayhem and the deaths of 32 individuals. In order to be rescued by the Coast Guard, passengers had to clamber over the ship’s hull and fend for themselves when it capsized.
Leaving the cruise
When Schettino and other officers abandoned the ship, they were labeled cowards. off unintentionally falling off the ship onto the lifeboat to deciding to go ashore to organize the evacuation, his justification evolved. A recording of the Coast Guard yelling and swearing at Schettino to get back to the ship was disseminated by the media in the meanwhile.
“Return to the ship.”
“Listen Schettino, maybe you have saved yourself from the sea, but I will make you look very bad,” said Coastguard Captain Gregorio De Falco in one of the recordings. I’ll hold you accountable. Go back on board, dammit!
According to the BBC, Schettino replied that he was coordinating the rescue from a distance over the radio in a lifeboat. “Do you realize that it is dark and we can’t see anything?” he begged at one point.
“So, what do you want to do, to go home, Schettino?” the coastguard shouted back. You want to go home now that it’s dark? Tell me what has to be done, how many people are there, and what they require by going to the ship’s bow, where the ladder is located. Right now!
The cruise detoured, but why?
Several justifications for the diversion were raised during the court case. While saluting a retired captain who lived on the island and doing a favor for the head of the wait staff, Schettino stated during his evidence that he wanted to provide the passengers with an excellent view. According to the captain, he carried out these “fly-bys” to appease the other passengers.
He refuted the allegations that he was attempting to win over Domnica Cemortan, his sweetheart, who was with him at the helm. He acknowledged some of the culpability during the hearings, but he placed the blame for the crash on other crew members.
The forthcoming hearing for Schettino
Schettino was given a 16-year prison sentence in 2015 for manslaughter, dereliction of duty, causing a shipwreck, and deserting his passengers. After asking for “semi-liberty,” which rewards inmates who behave well by letting them serve out their sentences outside of jail, he recently made news again. The Maritime Executive says the hearing will take place in March 2025.
outbreak of viruses
There are various types of cruise tragedies. They can occasionally be caused by weather, technical issues, or human error. However, a virus was the cause of the 2014 MS Explorer of the Seas disaster. When a nanovirus outbreak compelled passengers to evacuate from the deck and head to the infirmary, the trip broke records. According to NPR, 50 crew members and 630 passengers experienced stomach issues overall.
Attack by pirates
The 2005 pirate hijacking of a cruise served as the inspiration for Tom Hanks’ movie Captain Phillips. Two armed boats approached the Seabourn Spirits luxury cruise ship off the coast of Somalia and fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. The cruise avoided catastrophe and outran the assailants. According to CBS News at the time, all 151 passengers were brought below deck during the chase, and only one member of the 161-person crew was hurt.
“The Poop Cruise”
Passengers on the Carnival Triumph cruise ship experienced a waking nightmare in 2013. Before being rescued, the ship floated for four days when a fire destroyed the power. There was no air conditioning at the time, and there weren’t many supplies of food, water, or electricity. However, the absence of functional restrooms resulted in corridors piled high with biohazard bags filled with sewage, hence the incident’s name.
Even worse, the ship shouldn’t have been permitted to sail, according to its maintenance and inspection documents. CNN claims that just four of the six generators were working when they set sail, and the corporation was aware that their ships were prone to generator fires.
