The cruise ship sank. Seven shipwrecked cruise ships

At least 6 people have died in the crash of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which ran aground and then sank in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy.
It is noted that the number of victims may increase, since after the disaster, some passengers jumped overboard in cold water and their fate is still unknown.
Two hours before the crash, the cruise ship was diagnosed with a power failure, but the ship went to sea anyway.
The cruise of the passenger liner Costa Concordia, which sank off the coast of Tuscany on Saturday night, almost caused the death of several thousand tourists from all over the world due to technical problems on the ship, as well as uncoordinated actions of the crew.

A few hours before leaving the port, a malfunction in the electrical system was recorded on the liner, but the captain of the ship decided not to delay the departure of the Costa Concordia and not to conduct additional checks.
The ship came too close to the shore, the underwater relief of this area is a stone ridge of reefs.
One of the main causes of the disaster is the inattention of the command or the error of navigation instruments, due to which the giant liner hit the reef and received a hole - as a result, the board immediately began to take on water and roll.


The ship's crew also failed to organize an urgent evacuation. According to eyewitnesses, Costa Concordia workers delayed the launching of lifeboats. Later, due to a strong roll, it was no longer possible to place people in the boat.
Panic began among the passengers: seeing that it was almost impossible to get into the boats, many in fright began to jump into the icy water, because they were afraid to go to the bottom with the ship.
At that moment, when the ship received a hole, the passengers had just begun their dinner.
- Suddenly we heard a noise, and the ship seemed to be dragged somewhere. The lights went out, dishes and tables began to fall. There was a terrible panic, - says the Italian Luciano Castro.


People in horror themselves got out of the sinking ship, no signals for action were received from the crew of the ship. People rushed in all directions.


- Have you watched Titanic? That's exactly what happened to us, - says 31-year-old Valerie Ananias from Los Angeles. When the ship tilted, she, along with her parents and sister, had to crawl up the corridors between the cabins.
- We crawled in the dark, only the strobe on the life jacket blinked, - recalls Valerie's mother, - We heard the dishes breaking and people being thrown against the walls.
Mara Parmigiani, an escaping church minister from Germany, was given a ticket to the cruise by her husband. The woman set sail for the first time in her life and almost died on the first night on the ship. It was a miracle to be saved. Documents, personal belongings and money were flooded under water.
- The crew only told us to stay in our seats and do nothing. We were told that nothing threatens our lives,” the victim says.


After some time, people were instructed to put on life jackets and move to the rafts. However, the passengers were blocked on the liner - it rolled over on its side, making it impossible for people to approach the boats.
- If it weren't for the boat passing by, which drove up to help, I think we would most likely have died, - says Mara Parmigiani.


Those passengers who did not have enough life jackets and places in the boats jumped overboard into the icy water in desperation.
One of the dead was a 65-year-old man. He had a heart failure.


Local barges that received a rescue signal, as well as helicopters of search services, came to the aid of the victims. Many were picked directly from the open sea.
At the same time, no one counted those rescued ashore. All figures given to the authorities were approximate.


At the time of the disaster, 4240 people were on board, of which 1032 were crew members. The tourists who cruised the Mediterranean were from Italy, Germany, France, Britain and Russia. In total - 3208 people.
Eight people are listed as dead, about 67 were injured, the search for victims continues. Rescuers are looking for at least 70 more people.
108 citizens of the Russian Federation who were on board were rescued. According to the information of the Russian embassy in Rome, nothing threatens their lives.
The names of 102 Russians have been established, Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, said. Most of them have already been placed in the Rome Hilton hotel, the rest are being taken there. Tourists were left without money, passports, luggage and will soon be without communication: Cell phones gradually dissipate.
Operators send to the Russian consulate copies of documents of vacationers, according to which the Russians will be returned home. Among the personnel of the liner were Russian-speaking. Whether they were citizens of Russia, it turns out.

Information about the liner:


Costa Concordia- the Concordia class cruise ship was built in 2005 at the Fincantieri Sestri Ponente shipyard in Italy and since 2006 sailed under the Italian flag between ports mediterranean sea. The twin ships are Carnival Splendour, Costa Pacifica, Costa Favolosa, Costa Fascinosa and Costa Serena.


The length of the vessel is 290 meters, the number of passengers: 3,700, crew: 1,100 people.
The ship has 14 passenger decks, 1500 cabins, a three-level theatre, a shopping gallery, 13 bars, cafes, 5 restaurants, 4 swimming pools, a beauty salon, a fitness center, Turkish baths and sauna.

February 16, 1986off the coast of New ZealandsankSoviet cruise ship"Mikhail Lermontov". The people on board - 408 passengers, a significant part of them of retirement age, 330 crew members and a New Zealand pilot - were rescued by the Tarihiko tanker and the Arahura ferry that approached the place of the wreck. One person died in the crash: Pavel Zaglyadimov, an engineer of refrigeration units, who worked in a compartment that was flooded immediately after the collision. We decided to remember seven cruise liners, shipwrecked.

"MIKHAIL LERMONTOV"

The ship "Mikhail Lermontov" was built at the shipyard of the German port of Wismar in 1972 and was put into operation in 1973. Its purpose was to serve regular cruise lines. In the same year, on May 28, the ship "Mikhail Lermontov" set off on its first voyage along the route Bremerhaven - London - Le Havre - New York, becoming the first Soviet passenger ship to visit a foreign American port in the last 25 years.

On five passenger decks, connected by ladders and elevators, there were 239 cabins, which could accommodate 550 passengers with all amenities. The crew consisted of 350 people and was located on the lower decks. At the service of passengers there was a music salon with a stage, a restaurant, five bars, a beauty salon, a hairdresser, a casino, a library, a winter garden, shops, tennis courts.

In your last flight the liner departed from the port of Leningrad on Friday, November 22, 1985. Having reached Wellington, New Zealand, after a short stay on February 16, 1986 in Shakespeare Bay off the coast of New Zealand, at 17:38 local time, at a speed of about 15 knots, the ship twice hit the bottom of the rocky shoal in the area of ​​​​Cape Jackson and received an extensive hole on the port side below the waterline. A distress signal was sent and received by Wellington radio. The Arahura ferry, heading from Picton through the Cook Strait, and the Tarihiko tanker, which took on board 356 passengers and crew members, headed for the liner in distress. In addition to the tanker and the ferry, small fishing vessels took part in rescuing passengers and crew and rushing to help.

After the death of the ship, there were many different rumors about the hidden causes of the disaster. Officially, the senior assistant to the captain, Sergei Stepanishchev, was recognized as the culprit of the disaster, as the senior officer who was on the bridge at the time of the collision. At the same time, the court took into account the illegal actions of a New Zealand citizen, pilot Donald Jemison, who indicated the wrong course. Attempts to raise the liner sunken at a depth were not made. There is an opinion that the Soviet liner interfered with Western competitors: the USSR Ministry of the Passenger Fleet sold tickets at reduced prices by reducing costs. Our sea ​​vessels used Soviet fuel, which was much cheaper than Western. In England, tickets for a Soviet liner were sold at a price of $70 per day. A ten-day boat tour cost $700.

The remains of the ship are still at a depth of 25-30 meters and are popular place diving.

"ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV"

The Soviet passenger ship was wrecked on August 31, 1986, 15 kilometers from Novorossiysk, 4 kilometers from the coast. Until that day, "Admiral Nakhimov" had been making cruise voyages along the Crimean-Caucasian line for 29 years.

The ship was built in 1925 in Germany and bore the name "Berlin" Until 1939, "Berlin" made regular flights across the Atlantic, between the ports of Bremerhaven and New York. During the Second World War, the ship sank, but was raised, repaired and sold to the USSR in 1957. Over time, "Admiral Nakhimov" gained popularity in the country. The newlyweds have a fashion to make honeymoon travel on the Admiral Nakhimov. Vouchers for this ship were sold out six months before the start of the cruise.

On the day of the tragedy, along with the crew, there were 1243 people on the ship, including the head of the KGB department for Odessa region Major General A. Krikunov and his family, who arrived at the ship's departure from Novorossiysk. At 22:00, having taken passengers on board, the ship went to sea, moving towards Sochi. At this time, the Pyotr Vasev, a cargo ship-dry cargo ship, of a larger displacement, entered the Tsemess Bay, following a course of 36 degrees at a speed of 11.5 knots. The ships approached on intersecting courses. The total speed of their movement was over 23 knots, or 43 kilometers per hour. The dispatchers suggested that Viktor Tkachenko, the captain of the cargo ship Pyotr Vasev, let the passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov pass, to which he agreed. After that, both ships negotiated among themselves, specifying the details of the maneuver. However, at 23:12, Pyotr Vasev crashed with the bow at a right angle into the starboard side of the ship, cutting a hole in it 8 by 10 meters. The liner went to the bottom in just 8 minutes. From the sinking ship, the sailors managed to throw off most of the inflatable life rafts, which became the only means of salvation for drowning people. At the crash site, about a thousand people were floundering on the surface of the water at the same time, many objects and debris floated. The wind and current began to carry the injured people directly to the dry cargo ship, and after a while several dozen people floated on both sides.

The captain of the port of Novorossiysk was immediately informed about the collision of the ships, who sent port fleet tugs, offshore and small passenger boats to the crash site. Total, by official version, as a result of the disaster, 423 passengers and crew members died. However, not all the dead were found and raised to the surface. 64 people remained forever under water.

ANDREA DORIA

Italian transatlantic liner, first launched on June 16, 1951 and distinguished by special safety, sank on July 26, 1956 11 hours after a collision with the Stockholm liner off the coast of New York. Andrea Doria was not just a liner. He personified the revival of the Italian merchant marine after the Second World War. With a gross tonnage of 29,100 gt, 212 meters long and 27.5 meters wide, the ship was one of the largest and fastest ships in the world. The premises of the liner were decorated with works of art. Each classroom has a cinema hall and a swimming pool with a recreation area.

July 25, 1956 "Andrea Doria" with 1134 passengers and 500 crew members on board, moving in the fog at a speed of 21.8 knots, was approaching the lighthouse on Nantucket Island. Almost the entire route was completed. The speed was higher than the maximum allowed in such weather conditions. At the same time, the Swedish liner "Stockholm" with a capacity of 12 thousand tons was about to sail from New York. He was to pass within one mile of the lightship Nantucket, and then change course north to the coast of Scandinavia. However, in thick fog, a collision could not be avoided. On the bridges of both ships, they saw each other's lights almost simultaneously: "Stockholm" broke through 7 decks, and from the impact of "Andrea Doria" heeled heavily to the left, turned sharply, exposing the propellers and, continuing to go at full speed, dragged the Swedish ship behind him.

According to an emergency order, each of the 1250 passengers and 575 crew members were to board the lifeboats, only 8 people and the captain were to remain on the liner to control the eight winches that lowered all sixteen boats. The accident occurred on a busy section of the route, so help arrived quickly. When the roll of the Andrea Doria increased by 8 degrees, boats from the Stockholm, Ile de France, the Private William Thomas military transport, the Cape Ann fruit carrier and other responding ships approached the ship. The rescue of the passengers of the Andrea Doria was the most successful rescue operation in the history of shipwrecks: it was possible to save all the passengers of the liner.

The Italian liner is still lying at a depth of 72 meters, 40 miles from american island Nantucket. In addition to art objects, there were safes with passengers' money and jewelry on the ship. However, all attempts to raise the ship were unsuccessful. Over the past ten years, more than 15 divers have died here.

"COSTA CONCORDIA"

The liner "Concordia" in 2006 was in 10th place in the TOP-10 largest cruise ships in the world. Its length was 290 meters, which is comparable to three football fields. The ship was wrecked on January 13, 2012 near Italian island Giglio off the coast of the Tuscany region, having veered off course and approached the shore. At full speed, the liner pierced the bottom of coastal cliffs and tilted about 20 degrees. As a result of the impact, a long hole of 50 meters was formed on the hull. Almost instantly, the engine room was flooded and control over the engines and electronic systems was lost.

The last cruise called at the ports of several Italian cities as well as Barcelona and Marseille. On board the ship were 3216 passengers from 62 countries and 1023 crew members. During the crash of the liner, 32 people died, more than 4 thousand people were evacuated. The captain of the Concordia, Francesco Schettino, was arrested. According to the prosecution, he brought the cruise ship too close to the coast. If found guilty, the captain faces up to 20 years in prison. Francesco Schettino himself denies the accusations against him, arguing that the rock that the liner ran into was not on the sea charts.

613 days after the disaster, work began on lifting the ship. The rescue operation was the largest and most expensive in history: it cost $ 800 million, and it took many months to prepare. On September 17, 2013, the ship was brought to a vertical position with the help of rollers and 36 steel cables and a special platform built at a depth of 30 meters.

The Titanic was the largest passenger liner world at the time of its construction. Its length reached 269 meters, and its width - 28.19 meters. During the first voyage on April 14, 1912, she collided with an iceberg and sank 2 hours and 40 minutes after the collision. There were 1,309 passengers and 898 crew members on board, for a total of 2,207 people. Of these, 712 people were saved, 1495 people died.

"Britannic"

The Britannic was the twin of the Titanic. It was the third and last Olympic-class vessel ordered by by White Starline. The liners were supposed to be named after ancient Greek characters: Olympians, titans and giants. But, according to legend, the titans and giants died in the battle with the Olympians, and calling the new ship "Gigantic" would be as impudent as in the case of the "Titanic". Therefore, the ship was named the Britannic. Due to the Titanic disaster, changes were made to the design.

During the First World War, the Britannic was used as a hospital ship. On November 21, 1916, the liner was blown up by mines laid by the German submarine U73 under the command of Gustav Ziss in the Kea channel - between the island of Kea and mainland Greece. An evacuation was carried out. After some time, the ship capsized to starboard and sank 55 minutes after the explosion.

In addition to the crew, there were 3.3 thousand wounded on board. The crash killed 30 people. Most of them died in two boats, which were pulled in by the still-rotating propeller.

Exactly 6 years ago, confirming the notoriety of Friday the 13th, the huge cruise ship Costa Concordia (Costa Concordia), carrying more than 4,200 people, crashed near the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany in Italy.

The name of the ship in literal translation means the coast of peace (consent, harmony). Costa Concordia was the largest ship in the Costa Crociere company, and in 2006 was in 10th place in the Top 10 largest cruise ships in the world.

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

Initially, Costa, founded by entrepreneur Giacomo Costa back in 1854, was Italian, but in 1997 it became international, and in 2000 it was acquired by the American cruise consortium Carnival. However, the company's ships continued to sail under the Italian flag, and their command staff was still predominantly Italian.

The contract for the construction of the ship was signed on January 19, 2002. The contract value was 450 million euros. Launching took place on September 2, 2005, the acceptance certificate was signed on June 30, 2006. At the Costa Concordia's christening ceremony seven days later, Czech supermodel Eva Herzigova acted as godmother. It is symbolic that the bottle of champagne thrown on board by the Czech diva did not break, which was considered a bad omen..

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 - Kazakhstan and 3 - 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 member of the crew of the liner.

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. 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 that the ship's bell was stolen.

Pumping out of 2300 tons of fuel, oil and sewage was completed on March 24, 2012. A month later, it was announced that the American company Titan Salvage had won the tender for the lifting and evacuation of the vessel. 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.

On the night of January 13-14, 2012, the giant cruise ship Costa Concordia crashed in the Mediterranean Sea near the Italian island of 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.

In the Mediterranean Sea near the island of Giglio in 2012, on January 13, a terrible tragedy occurred - the disaster 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 capable of providing energy to an entire city with a population of 50,000. 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 in Italian cities, as well as in 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 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 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.