"Costa Concordia" (Costa Concordia) - a cruise ship. Crash of the Costa Concordia (2012)

Not so long ago, one of the most expensive and unprecedented projects in history, which cost 600 million euros, was completed, more than 500 people from 24 countries around the world were involved - the rise cruise ship Costa Concordia, partially sunk off the coast of Tuscany (Giglio Island).

Such an operation is practically unprecedented. Cases where such a quantity of force was used can be counted on the fingers. However, neither the risks associated with lifting the liner nor its high cost shook the confidence of the engineers that it was necessary to carry out the lifting.

History of the crash of the Costa Concordia

On January 13, 2012, the liner followed the course of route 7 Night Winter Mediterranean, which involves leaving the port of Civitavecchia to Savona, last cruise assumed the entry of the liner into the ports of Barcelona, Marseille and several other Italian ports.

January 13, 2012, 22:00 CET the ship was near the island of Giglio (Tuscany, Italy), most of the passengers had dinner at the restaurant at that time. It was then that Costa Concordia ran into a reef, as a result of which it received a hole of about 30 meters. The rescue operation has begun.

From this moment, disagreements begin between the participants in the events - the passengers and the personnel of the liner. It is worth noting that all data can be interpreted from the perspective of individuals, and there are many of these positions (if not to say that almost everyone has their own), but the essence is still the same. According to the victims of the crash, after the collision, the ship tilted, causing panic among most of the passengers, the reaction of the ship's captain was not long in coming, and problems with the liner's generator were announced over the speakerphone.

Despite the fact that further events will develop not in better side, the ship's captain continues to hold this view. Despite this, the evacuation continues and passengers gather en masse near the boats. As many passengers note, the liner personnel failed to organize a smooth loading onto the boats. According to the investigation, which was carried out later, it turned out that the captain of the ship, Schettino, left the ship among the first.

After loading onto boats and launching, the personnel and passengers were transported to the shore, where the victims were given first aid. It is worth noting the help of local residents, who provided passengers with warm clothes, food and allocated places for the night. Passengers occupied schools, churches and hotels.

Victims of the Costa Concordia cruise ship crash

On the morning of January 14, 2012 Costa Concordia lay down on the starboard side, touching the bottom. The search for missing persons is organized.

At the time of January 17, the number of victims was 11 people, as well as 25 people were listed as missing. By the beginning of February, search work was stopped in the flooded part of the ship due to the risk to scuba divers conducting search and rescue operations. And by the end of March, data were received on 30 dead and two missing.

Causes of the accident of a passenger liner and punishment of those responsible

As the investigation found out, the cause of the accident was a collision of the liner with a reef, among other things, they do not exclude, as well, a technical failure of the liner's equipment. The experts were outraged by the fact that despite the fact that the liner passes this route 52 times a year, there was a deviation from the course by 3-4 miles. This can be explained by the initial statements of the captain of the liner Francesco Schettino, who said that having shifted to the side coastline he wanted to greet his friend former captain Costa Concordia), who lives on the island. However, in the future, Schettino retracted his testimony and shifted the blame to the company manager, who, according to him, insisted that the ship come closer to the shore.

Deciphering the black box showed that the ship was too close to the shore, the start of the evacuation was too late, in addition, the captain did not give a distress signal, which delayed the start of the rescue operation. Until July 17, 2013, Schettino was under house arrest by court order. On this moment there is a trial, the term proposed by the prosecutor - 2697 years in prison.

Cleanup and rise of Costa Concordia

Already three days after the crash of the ship, an oily liquid began to flow from the ship, experts reassured the public with assurances that it was not fuel. The pumping of fuel began, as there was a possibility that the ship would slide off the cliff. If this happened, more than 2,000 tons could end up at sea. Naturally, no one smiled at such a prospect. However, already on March 24, it was announced that the fuel was pumped out, and literally a month later a tender was held to raise and evacuate the vessel, which was won by Titan Salvage.

The plan for lifting the ship is quite simple, but it required significant investments, and the operation itself was associated with a high risk of failure of the event, which both the company's engineers and leading experts spoke about more than once. In mid-2013, work continues to prepare for the lifting of the vessel.

On September 16, at 9 am, the operation to lift the Costa Concordia was launched. The length of the liner is 290 meters, the angle of heel was 70 degrees, and the water level was 20 meters. The planned operation time is ideally 12 hours. Below is a graphic plan for lifting the liner.

On September 17, after 19 hours, the operation was finally completed successfully, it was possible to bring the ship to a horizontal position. As a result of the operation, Franco Porcelachi, Vice President of ARNIVAL CORPORATION, reported that everything went perfectly, and most importantly, no environmental damage was noticed. However, despite the fact that the rise was completed successfully, experts do not consider it necessary to relax and remind that this is not the end. In the spring, the liner will have to be transported to the shipyard, where the Costa Concordia will be dismantled.

The liner "Costa Concordia" ("Costa Concordia") holds a sad record: it is the largest passenger ship ever lost as a result of a shipwreck. We have already talked about the largest seven-masted schooner in history, Thomas Lawson () and about the mystical prediction of her fate.

The schooner sank on Friday the 13th, and one of the novels written by the millionaire Thomas Lawson, whose name she bore, was called Friday the Thirteenth. So, "Costa Concordia" also died on Friday and also on the 13th!

The cruise liner Costa Concordia was built at the Italian Fincantieri shipyard in Sestri Ponente (a suburb of Geno) in 2006 by order of Costa Crociere. At that time, it was the 10th largest passenger ship in the world rankings and the largest for Costa. "Costa Concordia" became the lead ship in a series of six units.

Costa Concordia had 13 decks; maximum length the vessel was 290.2 m, beam - 35.5 m, draft - 8.2 m, gross tonnage - 114,147 gross tonnage. Combined diesel-electric power point included 6 diesel generators with a total capacity of 102,780 hp. and two electric motors with a capacity of 21 MW each. Max Speed was equal to 23 knots, operational - 19.6 knots.

One and a half thousand comfortable cabins of different classes (from 16.7 to 44.8 sq.m) could accommodate 3,780 passengers. All cabins were equipped with TV, telephone, air conditioning, private bathroom and toilet. In addition, there were 14 elevators, 4 swimming pools, 5 restaurants, 13 bars, a theater, a two-level fitness center, a casino, a Formula 1 simulator. The ship's own crew consisted of 1100 people.

The Costa Concordia set off on its maiden voyage on July 14, 2006 and operated for several years on cruise lines in the Western Mediterranean. On the evening of January 13, 2012, the ship left the port of Civitavecchia and headed for Savona. It was an ordinary cruise "7 nights of winter mediterranean sea". At about 21:30 in the area of Giglio Island, when most of the passengers were having dinner in a restaurant, the liner hits a stone reef with its left side and gets an underwater hole 53 m long (from the 52nd frame to the 125th). Five compartments, from the third to the eighth, quickly fill with water, the main engines stop. "Costa Concordia" manages to pass by inertia a little more than a kilometer and turns her nose to the harbor of Giglio. Then, under the influence of the wind, she drifts and at about 10 pm she runs aground in the immediate vicinity of the coast. The vessel, designed to maintain buoyancy only when two compartments are flooded, begins to sink with a roll to starboard.

The crash of the liner seemed inexplicable. General bewilderment can be understood: "Costa Concordia" walked past the island of Giglio once a week, that is, 52 times a year, and how did she manage to run into a stone reef? Why did the liner deviate from its course by 3-4 miles?

Subsequently, the captain of the cruise ship, Francesco Schettino, admitted that he decided to bring the ship closer to the island of Giglio and greet the former captain of the Costa Concordia, who lived there, his good friend. He had already done this several times on previous flights, but on that ill-fated Friday he hesitated with the turn, and the liner ripped the board against the stones. The court recognized this version as the most likely, although Schettino later changed his testimony. In particular, he claimed that he was forced to change course by the manager of the Carnival company, but this statement was not supported by the facts.

At the time of the disaster, there were 3,216 passengers from 62 countries and 1,023 crew members on board. Among the passengers were 108 Russians, 45 citizens of Ukraine, 7 citizens of Moldova, 3 of Kazakhstan and 3 of Belarus. In addition, three of our compatriots were members of the liner's crew.

The rescue operation was badly organized. Instead of immediately starting the evacuation of passengers, the captain of the liner was silent for 15 minutes, and then announced to the passengers that the ship had only minor problems with the generator. And only almost an hour after the accident, when the ship listed 30 degrees, an emergency alarm sounded. The landing of people in the boats was accompanied by panic and stampede. Only the proximity of the coast made it possible to avoid a huge number of victims.

Captain Schettino, according to investigators, was one of the first to leave the ship without sending a distress signal. The Coast Guard found out about the crash of the liner belatedly and joined the evacuation of people only late at night. The active phase of the rescue operation continued until morning. Some passengers were transported ashore by helicopters.

Passengers who ended up on the island of Giglio were accommodated in a local church, school and other premises where there was at least a little free space. locals how could they help wrecked brought them food, blankets, warm clothes. Meanwhile, rescuers did not stop working, trying to find people inside the ship, including in the underwater part in the resulting air bags. Their efforts were not unsuccessful: on January 14-15, two newlyweds from South Korea and one Italian, a crew member of the liner, were found and rescued.

The victims of the disaster were 32 people. The search for bodies continued for a long time - the remains of the most recent missing were discovered only in November 2013. On February 1, 2014, another person was added to the mournful list - a diver died in an accident during work to raise the ship.

The Costa Concordia remained at the wreck for two years and became a tourist attraction. A stream of tourists rushed to the island of Giglio. In the nearby town of San Stefano, located on the mainland, tour operators did business selling tickets for excursions to the site of the tragedy. However, the inhabitants of the island were not pleased with the ship's hull, which became a grave. In addition, they feared that fuel and sewage would begin to flow out of the liner's tanks. Therefore, they threatened the Costa Crociere company with a lawsuit if the half-sunk ship was not removed in a timely manner.

On board the sunken liner were about six thousand works of art. The most valuable of them is a rare collection of Japanese engravings of the 18th-19th centuries, in particular, the work of Katsushika Hokusai. The Costa Concordia also had 19th-century Bohemian glass, antiques, jewelry from the ship's jewelry stores, valuables and money left by passengers in the cabins. Therefore, the forces of the Coast Guard and the Carabinieri guarded the ship from the encroachments of marauders. However, the Italian media reported back in March 2012 about the theft of a ship's bell.

Work on pumping 2300 tons of fuel, oil and sewage from tanks was completed on March 24, 2012. A month later, it was announced that the American company Titan Salvage won the tender for the lifting and evacuation of the ship. Initially, the operation was expected to take seven to ten months. In fact, it turned out much more, since a large amount of preparatory work was required. An underwater platform was built under the bottom of the ship, special counterweight pontoons were mounted on the port side, which, after filling with water, were supposed to put the liner on even keel.

The 19-hour operation to straighten and lift the liner was carried out on September 16-17, 2013. The ship was set on an even keel with the help of 36 steel cables and counterweight pontoons. Then a platform with similar pontoons was brought to the starboard side. After draining all the pontoons, the skeleton of the Costa Concordia floated to the surface.

It is believed that the work performed has become the most expensive in the history of rescue operations. Their cost was about 250 million euros.

The Costa Concordia remained off the island of Giglio for another 10 months, and only at the end of July 2014 was it towed for disposal to the shipyard in Sestri Ponente, where the ship was built 8 years ago. It was assumed that the work on cutting the hull into metal would take 22 months and end in the spring of 2016.

The main and, in fact, the only culprit of the disaster, the court recognized the captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino. He was accused of negligence, inadvertently killing 32 people, and leaving his ship before all passengers were evacuated. However, Schettino denied many of the charges brought against him, showing miracles of resourcefulness. In particular, he argued that it was not he who was to blame for the deaths, but the unsatisfactory security system of the liner. He tried to shift the blame for the collision with the reef to the Filipino helmsman, who, allegedly due to poor knowledge of the language, carried out the commands too slowly ... He explained his flight at the very beginning of the evacuation in court as follows: “I didn’t even have a life jacket, because I gave it to one of the passengers. I tried to get the vest out of the lifeboat where they usually lie. The ship suddenly lists somewhere at 60-70 degrees. I stumbled and hit one of the lifeboats. That's why I was there."

Tests for alcohol and drugs gave a negative result, but Schettino, according to people who knew him, even when sober was distinguished by indiscipline and recklessness unusual for his age (51). One of his colleagues said: “He would even drive a bus like a Ferrari!”

On February 12, 2015, the Grosseto City Court found Schettino guilty and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.

The total damage from the death of the Costa Concordia for the ship-owning company amounted to approximately 1.5 billion euros. And this, of course, without taking into account reputational losses.

In the photographs below, you can compare the interiors of the liner - before the disaster and after a two-year stay under water:

Liner Costa Concordia, one of the ten largest cruise ships in the world, crashed on January 13, 2012. In September 2013 off the coast Italian island Giglio successfully completed a unique operation to raise a 300-meter sunken giant weighing 114,000 tons.

We have already discussed it with you. Here is Wednesday liner Costa Concordia started its last trip- the ship went to the port of Genoa, where it is being dismantled.

How it was …

2. Confirming the notoriety of Friday the 13th, the huge cruise ship Costa Concordia (Costa Concordia), carrying more than 4,200 people, crashed on January 13, 2012 near the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany in Italy. (Photo by AP Photo | Giuseppe Modesti):

3. Freeze frame from the video as passengers leave the sinking ship, January 14, 2012. (Photo by Reuters | Guardia Costiera):

4. According to the captain, the cruise liner ran into rocks that were not indicated on the navigation chart. 32 people died, two are missing. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte | AFP | Getty Images):

5. Later, the liner almost completely sank into the Mediterranean Sea. A scuba diver inspects the hull of the sunken cruise ship Costa Concordia six days later, January 19, 2012. (Photo by Reuters | Centro subacquei dei Carabinieri):

6. Damage and traces of raid on the reef are visible. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte | AFP | Getty Images):

7. Under water, inside the ship is complete chaos, January 24, 2012. (Photo by AP Photo | Italian Navy GOS):

8. The Italian Titanic, the Costa Concordia cruise liner that sank in Italy, has been in trouble since its launch in 2005, when, according to an old maritime tradition, a bottle was supposed to be broken on the side of the ship. But the bottle didn't break. In 2008, the €450 million Costa Concordia cruise ship crashed into a pier off the coast of Naples, Italy. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte | AFP | Getty Images):

9. 2013 At the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, work is underway to install equipment before bringing the ship into an upright position. This operation is truly unique. Previously, engineers had never had to work with such big ships. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte | AFP | Getty Images):

10. The purpose of this operation was to remove the ship from the stones, raise and put it upright with the help of an underwater platform and cranes. Containers on the sides (below in the photo) allowed the entire structure to remain on the surface, September 15, 2013. (Photo by Andreas Solaro | AFP | Getty Images):

11. The largest and most expensive maritime rescue operation in history costs about 250 million euros, and damage to owners amounted to 1.5 billion euros. The unique operation to raise a sunken ship off the coast of the Italian island of Giglio took less than a day - 19 hours. The ship was successfully keeled on September 17, 2013. (Photo by Andreas Solaro | AFP | Getty Images):

12. The next phase of the operation began in July 2014. On Wednesday, the Costa Concordia liner began its last journey - the ship went to the port of Genoa, where it is being dismantled, July 22, 2014. (Photo by Andreas Solaro | AFP | Getty Images):

An interesting fact: the Titanic sank on the night of April 13-14, 1912, and the Costa Concordia sank on the night of January 13-14, 2012, i.e. between these crashes is almost exactly 100 years of difference.

It is interesting to compare the "Titanic" and "Costa Concordia" according to the declared characteristics:

13. Damaged part of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, July 13, 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Alessandro Bianchi):

14. Let's look inside. The picture was taken on February 27, 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Carabinieri Police):

15. The Costa Concordia had 1,500 cabins, the world's largest seaside wellness center, four swimming pools, five spas, five restaurants, 13 bars, a cinema, a disco and an internet cafe. (Photo by Reuters/Carabinieri Police):

16. Among maritime disasters that occurred in peacetime, in terms of the number of victims, the Titanic ranks third - 1,513 people. The Doña Paz ferry, which collided with an oil tanker in 1987, remains in the lead. More than 4,000 people died in the clash and ensuing fire.

17. Inside the liner, time has stopped. Someone's suitcases. (Photo by Reuters | Carabinieri Police):

18. According to the passengers, when the ship had already received a hole, the crew, dressed in life jackets, persuaded the passengers to return to the cabins, assuring that nothing terrible was happening. (Photo by Reuters | Carabinieri Police):

19. For five days, Costa Concordia will have to overcome approximately 370 kilometers in tow, the ship will move at a speed of 2 knots, July 14, 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Alessandro Bianchi):

20. Preparatory work is underway before the last trip of the Costa Concordia liner, July 14, 2014. (Photo by Vincenzo Pinto | AFP | Getty Images):

25. (Photo by AP Photo | Gregorio Borgia):

27. This is the last trip of the Costa Concordia. In Genoa, a complex dismantling operation will take place, it will be divided into four phases, it will last 22 months. (Photo by AP Photo | Courtesy of the Italian Civil Protection Department):

Let's remember a few ships with interesting history: here's an example, but here's the story, as well as find out the secret. And here The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

In the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Giglio in 2012, on January 13, a terrible tragedy occurred - the catastrophe of a large cruise ship Costa Concordia. At that time there were 4200 people on it.

Ship "Costa Concordia"

The liner was built in the middle of summer 2006. This is one of the largest modern ships of the Costa Cruises company, which ranks first in Europe in terms of passenger (cruise) transportation. 114500 tons - its displacement, passenger capacity - up to 3780 people. The number of cabins on board is 1500.

Vessel dimensions: 290.2 m long, 35.5 m wide. A powerful electric generator is able to provide energy whole city with a population of 50 thousand. There are four swimming pools, 5 restaurants, 5 spas, 13 bars, a disco, a cinema and an Internet cafe on board.

crash

On January 13, a ship from the port of Civitavecchia headed for Savona. It was an ordinary cruise route - "7 Nights of the Winter Mediterranean". This latest cruise planned to call at several ports. Italian cities and also to Barcelona and Marseille.

At 10 pm in the area of the island of Giglio, when most of the passengers were having dinner at a restaurant, the ship ran into a huge stone reef. He received a large hole (length - 53 m, width up to 7.3 m) and began to sink. Compartments from the third to the eighth were flooded (5 in total). The eighth house was the engine room. In this regard, control over engines and electronic equipment was lost.

The ship ran aground just 150 meters from locality- the village of Giglio Porto. This is how the Costa Concordia sank.

The ship was designed to be unsinkable if only two compartments were damaged. By the morning of January 14, the ship sank and, having touched the bottom, lay on the starboard side.

In total, at the time of the disaster, there were 3,216 passengers (from 62 countries) and 1,023 crew members on the ship. Among them were Russians (108 people) and Ukrainians (45 citizens). None of them were hurt. Only of the three Russians (crew members) after the disaster, two ended up in the hospital. On board were three more citizens from Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Rescue operations, assistance of local residents

According to the testimony of numerous witnesses (there are confirmations on video recordings), the crew of the Costa Concordia ship failed rescue operation. The captain of the Schettino liner himself, instead of giving the necessary distress signal and starting the evacuation, announced to the passengers only 15 minutes after the accident that the ship had only minor problems with the generator (at that time there were indeed problems with energy).

Only when closer to 11 o'clock the ship's list increased greatly (30 degrees), beeps sounded, which meant that the passengers should leave the ship. Of course, panic began, a stampede.

The captain himself (according to the investigation) was one of the first to leave the ship, without even sending any signal about this terrible disaster. Thanks to the actions of the coast guard, which contacted the ship, a rescue operation began late at night.

Passengers who did not have time to get into the boats were lifted from the side rails (they clung to them) by helicopters. Four boats did not have time to launch. There was a very strong roll. Some passengers were able to swim to shore on their own.

Subsequently, during the search for missing people, naval sailors began to punch holes in the walls of the ship with explosions in order to break through to the remaining air bags, which could contain survivors.

Search and rescue operations had to be stopped several times due to adverse weather conditions and ship movements.

At the beginning of February 2012, the search was announced to be stopped, but only in the flooded parts of the ship, due to the great risk to scuba divers. And the search for seabed(within 18 sq. km), as well as in the remaining non-flooded areas of the vessel, continued.

The inhabitants of the island, in turn, helped the victims by placing them in a school, local church and other buildings. Provided them medical care brought food, warm clothes.

Victims, dead and injured

According to daily reports on January 14, it was known about the death of three people.
On January 15, the bodies of two more dead passengers(Italian and Spanish).

By January 16, there were already 6 dead. And 16 people at that time were listed as missing. The next day, the list of missing people grew to 29 people (including 4 crew members). The confusion in the figures of the summary was explained by the fact that most those saved were foreigners who did not speak Italian.

By the end of March 2012, a total of 30 bodies had been found. Two more people were still missing. The remains of the most recent missing person were discovered during search operations only in November 2013.

Invasion of tourists

"Costa Concordia" has increased the flow of tourists to the scene of the tragedy.

More than six months after the disaster tiny island filled with a huge number of tourists. In nearby San Stefano, 15 kilometers from the site of the tragedy, tour operators were doing business selling tickets for 10 euros. Tourists got the opportunity to look at the half-sank liner from a special ferry, which passed just a few meters from the Concordia.

The mayor of the village of Giglio, Sergio Ortelli, noted that in fact there was a significant increase in the number of tourists. They came to see the giant ship that fell on its side and take pictures of it as a keepsake.

Investigative work on the incident, results

The investigation found that the ship approached much closer (10 times) to the shore than it was planned by the route, and at a higher speed.

The entire campaign to eliminate the consequences of the shipwreck lasted more than two years. The damage estimated by the authorities of the island of Giglio amounted to 125-189 million euros.

The main defendant is the captain of the wrecked liner Francesco Schettino. He was found guilty of unintentional murder of people (32 people) and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Shipping experts are perplexed and wonder how such a modern and well-equipped vessel as the Costa Concordia could run aground in such well-studied sea areas.

The experts had two questions. Namely, how it happened that the Costa Concordia deviated from the planned route (by 3-4 nautical miles) and for what reason she turned over so soon.

This ship has been cruising this route 52 times per year.
The main assumptions about the causes of what happened are the human factor and a technical failure or a combination of these two factors.

It is also possible that the ship's crew simply strayed off course. Therefore, the liner "Costa Concordia" was dangerously close to the coast.

There were also versions that there were malfunctions in the ship's navigation equipment.
Power outages could also occur on board.

But the most important thing is that there was a crash in the Mediterranean Sea huge liner"Costa Concordia", learned in the world only a day after the incident. The greatest indignation and bewilderment was caused by the behavior of the captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, and the crew subordinate to him.

According to the testimonies of passengers, some members of the crew did not even let people in at first. lifeboats eventually climbed into them themselves. And the captain escaped from the sinking ship, leaving all the passengers behind.

Costa Concordia now

The operation to raise the ship was carried out in several stages. These works are the most expensive in the history of such operations, their cost is about 250 million euros. For the owners of the vessel, the damage amounted to approximately 1.5 billion euros. In August 2013, a unique operation began. It took less than a day. The ship was safely keeled.

The goal of the whole operation was, first of all, to achieve a minimum roll (zero). This has been successfully achieved. For 600 days on the reefs, the hull of the liner was badly damaged. However, the rise of the Costa Concordia ended successfully.

At the end of July 2014, work began on towing the ship to the port of Genoa. Three days later, the ship was brought to the intended port. Work on dismantling the hull will take almost 2 years.