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On a normal, cheery day, Friday, Janurary 13th, the Costa Concordia sank. It was a cruise ship that was on a journey with over 4,000 passengers. It ran aground near the Island of Giglio in Italy. Due to that, unfortunately there were over 10 casualties and many are missing.
The question is: WHY did it sink? The captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, didn't follow the approved route for the cruise, and hit into a giant rock. The rock caused a major gash, causing the ship to slowly sink, and cause power outage on the ship.
Francesco Schettino panicked and abandoned ship, leaving the passengers unknowing about the incident. His last words were: "We are having minor electricity problems, don't worry, and stay where you are." After an hour, with the ship still sinking, they FINALLY began evacuating the ship.
In the evacuation of the passengers, the ship was quickly sinking. Unfortunately, due to that, half of the lifeboats were useless. Many people started panicking and leaping out. But then, many other passengers worked together to survive. They created a human chain made up of bedsheets, rope, and joining of hands. They slowly lowered themselves down, but unfortunately, it was not like the Titanic. There were no "ladies and children first". It was men first; they didn't wait for the women to be saved . . . nor the children!
During this incident, there was a Coast Guard who found Schettino. He recorded the conversation, demanding and yelling at the Captain for abandoning the passengers. Schettino kept making excuses: it's dark, I flew out of the boat and couldn't get in, etc. The Coast Guard finally cracked down on Francesco Schettino and Schettino said "Alright I'll go back." He never did.
In this incident, if the passengers didn't work together, there would have been many more casualties. But anyways, after everyone abandoned ship, they finally captured the captain. The captain is being held for questioning, and is being held on charges of manslaughter, abandoning his duties, etc. What happened to the saying: "The captain goes down with the ship"?
Author's Note: Sources: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/17/coastguard-begged-costa-concordia-captain-to-return-to-ship-after-crash-recording-shows/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/21/costa-concordia-captain-denies-delaying-alarm-allegedly-admits-he-messed-up/
http://www.livescience.com/18004-costa-concordia-titanic-comparison.html
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