Cruise Ship Strikes Rock off Italian Coast; 3 dead, 70 missing.

[Rex]

The wreck is starting to shift; it could slip under and the fuel tanks could rupture.

This could be bad...

[Vash01]

What a nightmare! I am so sorry for the loss of life and those still missing, as also for the survivors who will likely get nightmares for a long time to come.

[Rex]

I so hope that they can get the fuel off the ship before it starts to leak.

[Southpaw]

Oh, lordy. The captain overrode the programmed route and scooted the ship past the island so that the head waiter could wave to his parents who live there. The word "hubris" doesn't nearly cover the depth of this folly.

[skatesindreams]

^^^
Beyond belief!

[Wyliefan]

Bet he's feeling like the world's biggest idiot right about now.

[Southpaw]

And no wonder the captain ran after doing that, he reacted like a kid who clobbered a baseball through a neighbor's window. Seriously, I'm sitting here with my jaw hanging open after reading that. Good thing it's really cold out or I'd be getting a throat full of flies right now. What a total fckng IDIOT. How do you say "total fkng idiot" in Italian??

[Rex]

I feel so bad for the poor old couple whose bodies they found near the restaurant. I cringe when folks compare this to the Titanic disaster, but this does sorta remind me of the Strauses, the old couple who chose to die together rather than be separated.

This captain should do jail time. In his defense, he did try to beach the ship, but he never should have sailed so close to land like that. There are still millions of uncharted rocks on the coasts worldwide - he should have known that.

[Southpaw]

I agree that this is nothing like the Titanic. This act of supreme jackassery of the highest order has more in common with Steve Irwin playing with a stingray than a ship meeting a wayward iceberg in the North Atlantic.

[Anita18]

Oh, lordy. The captain overrode the programmed route and scooted the ship past the island so that the head waiter could wave to his parents who live there. The word "hubris" doesn't nearly cover the depth of this folly.

There's not enough walls to knock my head onto for that one.

[WindSpirit]

Oh, lordy. The captain overrode the programmed route and scooted the ship past the island so that the head waiter could wave to his parents who live there.

I thought it was just a rumor, but it seems to be true. Wow. Disasters and human errors happen, but that was flat-out arrogance and stupidity.

I read they came 300 yards from the island's coast while they were supposed to be at least 4 miles away.

'Most people didn't even have any idea of what the evacuation warning sound would be. It was only because some of us had already been on a cruise that we recognised that seven blasts of the horn was a signal to abandon ship.'

Is that true? If so, it's good to know.

One of the people I pity the most are the rescuers. Those divers who have to look for bodies? I could not do that job.

[orbitz]

I'm sure the head waiter that asked the favor of the captain must also be feeling stupid right now. I'm sure both of their brains are going "What if?"

[Southpaw]

I'm still sitting here with my mouth gaping open thinking about the exchange between the Captain and the Head Waiter and in my mind I see a scene right out of "Night at the Opera" with Groucho as the Head Waiter and Chico as the Captain. Because THAT'S how ridiculous this is to me. It's so preposterous that it's like something right out of a freaking Marx Brothers movie.

[galaxygirl]

Apparently, the head waiter didn't ask for or know about the detour. I don't have a link but I either read it on a link provided in this thread or CNN.

[Anita18]

Apparently, the head waiter didn't ask for or know about the detour. I don't have a link but I either read it on a link provided in this thread or CNN.

The Herald Sun said the waiter's sister claimed on Facebook (of course ) she was told that the ship was "going to pass really close", and was sending "a big hello to my brother."

The article also claims the waiter didn't request the detour. He must be ridden with guilt, although it's not his fault directly.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/wor...-1226245930161

Even so, did everyone on the bridge think the detour toward a known rocky coast was a good idea??

And it also may turn out that the ship didn't call in a distress signal:

An Italian official told The Wall Street Journal that the coast guard learned of the ship’s troubles after passengers phoned police to complain. The coast guard then contacted the ship’s command at about 10:15 p.m., more than a half-hour after the boat hit the rock formation, the official said.

If that's not behavior after a huge f*ckup, I don't know what is!

http://gcaptain.com/cruise-line-blam...n-costa/?37693

[orbitz]

Even so, did everyone on the bridge think the detour toward a known rocky coast was a good idea??

It's like when Bush ordered the troops to invade Irag. I'm sure many of the soldiers were like WTF but they felt they had to follow order from the top. Ok, that was perhaps an extreme example, but I'm sure the guy steering the ship was just carrying out order.

Is there a co-captain on board? And a navigator also? If so, I'd like to know what sort of conversations they had when the captain decided to take the detour. In the olden days, there would've been a guy situated on the top mast keeping watch for protruding rocks, ice bergs, etc. I wonder if modern ships are equipped with some sort of sonar devices to detect such thing.

Part of me do feel bad for the captain actually. He's probably good friend with the head waiter and wanted to do something special for him to show off to the family. I'm sure some of us had done things in the name of showing off that went awry. But the captain was in a position where he shouldn't have been goofing off, and his mistake caused great damages and cost human lives.

[pingu]

How do you say "total fkng idiot" in Italian??

I've sent you a PM

[skatesindreams]

Latest from CNN - includes videoclips:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/17/world/...html?hpt=hp_t1

[Southpaw]

I've sent you a PM

Grazie mille!

[Rex]

I feel so bad for the poor old couple whose bodies they found near the restaurant. I cringe when folks compare this to the Titanic disaster, but this does sorta remind me of the Strauses, the old couple who chose to die together rather than be separated.

Apparently it was two men they found together, not a man and woman. And I have no idea if they were a couple or not now. My bad.

Five more bodies have been found, the total death toll is 11.