Airliner crash in Italy. The most famous maritime disasters in the world

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 a typical 7 Nights Winter Mediterranean cruise. 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 person who lived there. former captain"Costa Concordia", 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. The locals helped as much as they could. 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:

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 last 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 testimonies of numerous witnesses (there are confirmations on video recordings), the crew of the Costa Concordia ship failed the 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, in the dead of night began rescue operation.

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 searches on the seabed (within 18 sq. km), as well as in the remaining not flooded premises 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 capsized 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 the passengers, some members of the crew did not even let people into the lifeboats at first, but 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.

On the night of January 14, 2012 in the Tyrrhenian Sea near the island of Giglio, off the coast Italian region Tuscany. More than 4.2 thousand passengers and crew members were on board the ship. The crash killed 32 people and injured more than 100.

A giant liner with a length of 290 meters with 17 decks, which housed 1.5 thousand cabins, a two-level fitness area with an area of more than two thousand square meters, concert hall, 4D cinema, art Gallery and a small library, as well as a casino, boutiques, restaurants and bars, left on January 13, 2012 from the port of Civitavecchia (Civitavecchia) near Rome on a cruise on mediterranean sea and headed for Savona. A few hours after departure, when passengers were having dinner in restaurants, Costa Concordia ran into a rocky ledge, as a result of which it received a hole on the left side, the length of which was about 70 meters.

Gradually, the ship began to sink into the water. Then the liner is a kilometer north of the scene.

Crew members led by Captain Francesco Schettino told the passengers about what had happened. Panic broke out on board.
The evacuation of people from the liner continued throughout the night. It was attended by Coast Guard vessels and lifeboats and a helicopter was also involved. Saving people by the fact that many were blocked in the cabins of the liner, and several people fell overboard when the ship ran aground.

There were 111 Russian citizens on the liner. Among the surviving passengers of the ship were 450 French citizens.
Initially, it was reported that three people died as a result of the crash of the liner, but this figure increased every day. The course of the search and rescue operation due to deteriorating weather conditions, ship movements and an increase in danger to rescuers. In April 2012, 30 people were officially killed, and two more - an Italian woman and an Indian citizen - were reported missing. The remains of passenger Maria Grazia Trecarica were found inside the ship. The body of another missing person, steward Russell Rebello, an Indian citizen, was found in one of the Costa Concordia cabins only.

Since Costa wreck Concordia originated from its fuel on the coast of Giulio Island, located near the accident site. A number of species of rare fish and marine animals live in the region of this island. In March 2012, divers from the sunken Italian liner.

According to media reports, they acted on the sunken liner Costa Concordia, which plundered the flooded part of the ship. The first item stolen from the Costa Concordia was a ship's bell. Rynda, who weighed several tens of kilograms, was abducted by unknown people on March 15, 2012 from a depth of about eight meters. In addition, looters-scuba divers stole jewelry and watches that were left lying in the shop windows of the liner. Paintings, wall clocks and some furniture were also missing from the ship.

In the fall of 2013, the ship, which had lain on its side aground for more than a year, was installed vertically. A few months later in the bowels of his hull during underwater work.

In 2014, 19 special containers were attached to the liner, from which the water was then pumped out to raise the ship above sea level and level it. After the ship rose from under the water to 18 meters, the cables were unhooked from it, with the help of which they were kept near the shore. At the end of July 2014, the liner was towed to Genoa. The ship was towed. All this time, the liner was accompanied by a whole sea convoy, including, among other things, a French Navy boat and two helicopters.

After arriving at the port of Genoa, work began on dismantling the vessel. In May 2015, the Costa Concordia was towed to the area of the old port of Genoa, and five tugs sent what was left of the cruise ship towards the fourth dock for final dismantling.

On the Italian island of Giglio in October 2014, a monument was erected dedicated to the memory of the victims of the disaster on January 13, 2012 and the courage local residents. The memorial "" was created by the architect Giampaolo Talani. The work was donated to the island by Neri from Livorno (Italy) and Smit from Rotterdam (Netherlands).

Immediately after the tragedy, the prosecutor's office Italian city Grosseto, who is investigating the circumstances of the sinking of the Costa Concordia, against the captain of the liner Francesco Schettino, charging him with manslaughter, shipwreck and leaving the ship in danger. Representatives of the shipowner company said that Schettino would deviate from the intended course. The captain gave the command to come as close as possible to the island of Giglio in order to please the chief steward of the ship, a native of those places.

After experts took readings from the black box of the liner, it became clear that the evacuation of passengers from a distressed cruise ship Costa Concordia has begun. The captain of the liner did not send a distress signal (the coast guard itself contacted the ship in distress), which delayed the start of the rescue operation, he is also in maneuvering, managing the current emergency and evacuating the ship. After the crash, Schettino left the sinking liner.

On January 17, 2012, the Italian court decided to place the captain of the liner Francesco Schettino under house arrest, but on July 5, 2012, he was released from house arrest, provided that he could not leave the city of Meta di Sorrento in the province of Naples, where his house is located.

For his part, Schettino decided to sue the shipowner Costa Crociere, which fired him in July 2012, demanding his reinstatement. The trial for his dismissal began in the Italian town of Torre Annunziana in the province of Naples. Schettino considered that he was dismissed unfairly, despite the fact that the reason for the dismissal was not only an internal disciplinary investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy, but also violations of it, witnessed by the passengers of the liner employment contract and the Code of Navigation, for example, drinking alcohol an hour before the tragedy.

In the summer of 2013, the Italian Ministry of Transport by Captain Francesco Schettino.

The trial of the former captain of the Costa Concordia has begun. Initially, there were five other people in the dock in addition to Schettino: the senior assistant to the captain Ciro Ambrosio, the ship's officer Silvia Coronica, the helmsman Jacob Rusli Bean, the director of the onboard hotel Manrico Giampedroni and the coordinator of the crisis center of the shipowner Costa Crociere Roberto Ferrarini. However, as part of the preliminary hearings, they entered into an agreement with the investigation to admit their guilt in exchange for a reduced sentence.

A court in Italy recognized five employees of Costa Crociere, the owner of a cruise ship. liner Costa Concordia, in manslaughter. Ferrarini was sentenced to two years and ten months, Giampedroni received two and a half years, the other defendants, except Schettino, from a year and eight months to a year and 11 months in prison.

The ship operator Costa Crociere was worth a million euros for the mistakes and violations of the rules made by the company's employees during the accident.

On February 11, 2015, the court of first instance of the Italian city of Grosseto Francesco Schettino to 16 years and one month in prison. The ex-captain was also banned for life from holding any public office, and he will not be able to work in his profession for five years. The verdict was confirmed on 31 May 2016 by the Florence Court of Appeal.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

On the night of January 13-14, 2012, the giant cruise ship Costa Concordia crashed in the Mediterranean Sea near Italian island Giglio in Tuscany. There were 4,200 people on board. For some, the incident was reminiscent of the famous Titanic, which sank almost exactly 100 years earlier, on the night of April 14-15, 1912.

The captain of the cruise ship said that the liner hit rocks that were not marked on the navigation chart, as a result of which he received a hole. Unfortunately, not everyone managed to escape that night, several people died.

Surprisingly, on modern Titanic There were also not enough boats for all the passengers. In addition, the crew could not launch them correctly so that they did not fall upside down or at an angle, which quickly took on water. Some people who were unable to wait for rescue decided to take matters into their own hands and swim to the shore.

So there was a crash of one of the 10 largest cruise ships in the world, which gradually went deeper and deeper into the water until it sank to the very bottom. Only now he lay there for a short time, since it was decided to pull the 300-meter giant ashore.

Photographer from Germany Jonathan Danko Kielkowski was able to get inside a man who returned from sea depths ship and take these amazing, rare pictures for us.

When the liner emerged from the water, it looked like this.

All the numerous premises of the Costa Concordia were in complete ruin, as if the ship had been at the bottom for decades.

Costa Concordia is the largest wreck in history.

The construction of the ship, which received serial number 6122, was carried out by the Italian shipyard Fincantieri for three years, and on September 2, 2005, it was launched for the first time. As it should be according to tradition, the "newborn" ship was going to be "christened" by breaking a bottle of champagne on board. However, the bottle did not break, which is a very bad omen for a ship.

Experts investigating the wreck of the liner wondered why the ship decided to deviate from the route it usually followed and so dangerously approached the shore.

Explaining this fact, the captain of the liner, Francesco Schettino, admitted that on the day of the tragedy he went ashore to greet the former captain, who lived on Giglio.

The territory of the cruise ship was huge. On 15 decks there were 4 pools, 1450 cabins, 5 restaurants, a casino, a 2000 square meter fitness center and other entertainment.

The total amount of damage is estimated at 1.5 billion euros.

To raise the Costa Concordia, the shipowner also had to pay a considerable amount, which, according to media reports, should have been at least 600 million euros.

One of the cabins of the ship raised from the seabed.

Destroyed concert hall.

There is no trace of the former luxury.

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

The final liquidation of the consequences of the crash will consist of 10 stages and will require several years.

First, we will tell you about how the crash of the Costa Concordia cruise ship happened.

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

According to the captain, the cruise liner ran into rocks that were not indicated on the navigation chart. 32 people died, two are missing.

People waiting to be evacuated from a sinking ship, January 14, 2012. Some of them are now dead. (Photo by AP Photo | Courtesy a tourist aboard the ship):

Later, the Costa Concordia sank almost completely into the Mediterranean Sea. January 24, 2012. (Photo by AP Photo | Italian Navy GOS):

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.

The prosecutor's office claimed that it was the actions of the captain with the corresponding name Francesco Schettino that led to the wreck of the ship, and also accuses him of fleeing the ship long before the end of the evacuation, leaving his passengers behind. (Photo by Reuters | Enzo Russo | ANSA):

Let's compare the Titanic and the Costa Concordia according to technical characteristics:

Rescuers at the ship, January 19, 2012. To get into some compartments, it was necessary to install explosive charges on the ship's hull, which made the necessary holes. (Photo by Gregorio Borgia | Reuters):

By the way, among the maritime disasters that occurred in peacetime, the Titanic ranks third in terms of the number of victims - 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.

Chairs recovered from the Costa Concordia, (AP Photo | Pier Paolo Cito):

The Costa Concordia had 1,500 cabins, the world's largest maritime wellness center, four swimming pools, five spas, five restaurants, 13 bars, a cinema, a disco and an internet cafe. Let's look inside the sunken cruise ship, January 19, 2013. (Photo by Reuters | Centro subacquei dei Carabinieri):

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. Panic reigned.

Scuba divers inspect the interior of the wreck of the Costa Concordia on January 24, 2012. (AP Photo | Italian Navy)

This is how the Costa Concordia cruise ship remained off the coast of Tuscany in Italy on February 11, 2012. (Photo by Reuters | Giampiero Sposito):

In this disaster, 32 people died, two more were not found. Their names are engraved on the memorial plaque. Italy, January 13, 2013. (Photo by AP Photo | Gregorio Borgia):

The specialists were able to start pumping out diesel fuel from the tanks of the vessel only a month later: both because of the search for people, and because of weather conditions. And although a large-scale ecological catastrophe was avoided, the damage protected area Italy was nevertheless inflicted. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte | AFP | Getty Images):

The complete liquidation of the consequences of the crash will consist of 10 stages and will require several years. (Photo by AP Photo | Pier Paolo Cito):

How the cruise ship Costa Concordia was raised

The next stage in the aftermath of the crash was the recovery of the cruise ship Costa Concordia.

View near the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany in Italy, September 16, 2013. (Photo by Reuters | Tony Gentile):

Here, at the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, work is being completed on the installation of equipment before bringing the ship into a vertical position. This operation is truly unique. Previously, engineers had never had to work with such large vessels.

The purpose of this operation was to remove the ship from the rocks, lift it up and put it upright with the help of an underwater platform and cranes. Containers on the sides (below in the photo) will allow the entire structure to remain on the surface. (Photo by Andreas Solaro | AFP | Getty Images):

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. Italy, August 26, 2013. (Photo by Reuters | Alessandro Bianchi):

The main danger of this operation was that during the first maneuvers, the ship's hull, which had serious damage, could break. (Photo by AP Photo | Gregorio Borgia):

After raising the sunken rescuers, the restaurant and the deck on the starboard side are most interested in - most likely, they will try to find the bodies of two missing people there - waiter Kevin Rebello and passenger Maria Grazia Trecariki.

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.

The goal of the operation was to achieve zero roll, and this goal has been achieved. (Photo by Vicenzo Pinto | AFP | Getty Images):

600 days on its side on the reefs turned out to be fatal for the Costa Concordia cruise liner, the hull is hopelessly deformed, but now there are no inaccessible zones on it. September 19, 2013. (Photo by Vicenzo Pinto | AFP | Getty Images):

Costa Concordia in an upright position, September 17, 2013. The mangled side of the ship. (Photo by Vicenzo Pinto | AFP | Getty Images):

Off the coast of the island of Giglio, a ship anchored on a platform that will help it survive the winter storm season will remain idle until at least the end of next spring. Then Costa Concordia will be towed to one of the nearest ports for further disposal. (Photo by Vicenzo Pinto | AFP | Getty Images):

The starboard side was severely damaged. September 17, 2013. (Photo by Andreas Solaro | AFP | Getty Images):

The ship Costa Concordia, raised from the day, on September 17, 2013. The mangled right side is visible in the photo. See also: (Photo by Andreas Solaro | AFP | Getty Images):