Hopes of finding more cruise ship survivors fade
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The Italian Coast Guard has released photos of the rescue effort at the cruise ship Costa Concordia near Giglio Island, Italy.
On Tuesday January 17, Warrant Petty Officer Massimo Macaroni of the Italian Coast Guard said the casualty count from the disaster stood at six dead, and 29 missing: 25 passengers and four crew members.
Early Tuesday, rescue efforts were ongoing in and around the mammoth vessel, which was listing on its side off the island of Giglio.
The Costa Concordia hit rocks Friday night just off Italy’s western coast, leading to what passengers described as a chaotic and surreal scene to evacuate and the deaths of at least six people.
Divers have been searching the skyscraper-sized ship, working underwater in pitch blackness, in hopes of finding the missing.
There were roughly 4,200 people on the Costa Concordia when it ran aground — about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members.
The ship weighs in at more than 114,000 gross tonnage and measures 951 feet in length. Its maximum speed was designed to be 23 knots.
The disaster’s impact on earnings will cost the ship’s owner at least $ 85 million to $ 95 million in the fiscal year to November, parent company Carnival Corporation said.
Built in 2006, the Concordia had been on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.
- At least 11 are people have been confirmed dead, according to officials
- Rescuers continue to search for the about two dozen missing
- A judge orders the stricken cruise ship’s captain to remain on house arrest for now
- A frustrated coast guard official sternly orders the captain back to the ship, a transcript shows
Giglio, Italy (CNN) — With bitterly cold temperatures and frigid waters, the chances of finding more survivors appeared to dim early Wednesday as about two dozen people remain missing from the doomed Italian cruise ship.
At least 11 people have died since the Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized Friday off a Tuscan island. As rescuers continued to search in the dark waters around the island of Giglio, many questioned the actions of Capt. Francesco Schettino.
Experts say chances of finding survivors are slim.
“I think you have to look at several issues. One of is just the hypothermia. If a compartment is flooded, even if there was air, at this point, most of them would have succumbed to the hypothermic problem of the water temperature,” said Butch Hendrick, president of the diving safety company Lifeguard Systems.
When asked if he felt rescuers would be able to find any survivors, Hendrick said “I’m sorry to say this, but I don’t… I don’t believe there are. I’m sorry.”
Schettino was arrested after leaving the ship while dozens were still aboard, panicked and fighting for lifeboats.
“I am absolutely shocked. Shocked at his behavior,” said Passenger Alex Beach of New Mexico, who escaped the crippled cruise ship with her husband. “As a passenger that was relying on him and the rest of his upper officers to steer this ship, it’s quite alarming. “
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Schettino is under arrest and may face charges that include manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning a ship when passengers were still on board, chief prosecutor Francesco Verusio said.
In transcripts of conversations between Schettino and the Italian coast guard, published by the Corriere della Sera newspaper, the captain gives conflicting accounts of what happened when the ship hit rocks Friday night just off Italy’s western coast, leading to what passengers described as a chaotic and surreal scene as they rushed to evacuate.
At first, Schettino tells an official he had abandoned the vessel, according to the transcripts, which prosecutors say match those used in their investigation.
But as the official questions his decision, Schettino appears to reverse course and say he had not abandoned ship but was “catapulted into the water” at some point after the ship ran into a rock, began taking on water and started listing.
In a later conversation, an Italian coast guard official demands Schettino return to his ship, the transcripts show.
“You get on board! This is an order!” the coast guard official instructed Schettino.
“You have declared ‘Abandon ship.’ Now I’m in charge. You get on board — is that clear?” the port official said.
Christened: 2006
Concordia: Italian for “concord” or “harmony.”
Weight: 114,000 gross tonnage
Length: 951 feet (290m)
Max speed: 23 knots
Accommodation: 1,500 cabins
Facilities: Wellness center, five restaurants, 13 bars, four pools, giant movie screen.
Rescuers found five bodies Tuesday but it was still unclear how many people were missing. There were roughly 4,200 people on the Costa Concordia when it ran aground — about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members, the vast majority of whom made it off the ship safely.
Before the discovery of the five bodies Tuesday, authorities had said 29 people were missing; 14 Germans, six Italians, four French citizens, two Americans, and one each from Hungary, India and Peru. The was some confusion Tuesday on the number of missing Germans, according to the German Foreign Ministry.
One person on the list of missing was found dead Monday, but authorities have not specified the nationality.
A friend of two missing Americans, Gerald and Barbara Ann Heil of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, said their family is “holding up very well” despite the agonizing wait for word from Italy, where the retired couple had gone for “their trip of a lifetime” after raising four children and working in their community for years.
St. Pius X Catholic Church will hold a Wednesday evening prayer service for the couple, according to CNN affiliate KARE. The Heils were on a 16-day vacation to Italy, with a planned visit to the Vatican.
Divers are searching the skyscraper-sized ship, working underwater in pitch darkness. Italy’s Coast Guard said it has located a second “black box,” or data recorder, from the ship. Operations were under way to retrieve the recorder, said Coast Guard Warrant Petty Officer Massimo Macaroni.
Information from the device, along with another that has been recovered and is being analyzed by prosecutors, will provide authorities with “a complete picture of how the disaster unfolded,” Macaroni said.
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The Costa Concordia, owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises, ran aground on a sand bank off the island of Giglio on Friday, January 13.
Firemen search for missing people in and around the partially submerged Costa Concordia cruise ship on Monday, January 16.
Firemen work on the Costa Concordia cruise ship on Monday. The captain may have made “significant” errors that led to wreck, the cruise line said late Sunday.
Military rescuers patrol next to the listing Costa Concordia on Sunday January 15. A spiraling water slide can be seen on the deck.
Boats patrol near the Costa Concordia on Sunday. Divers searched for people who were still missing after Friday’s accident.
Rescuers search the Costa Concordia on Sunday.
Emergency services work from the island of Giglio on Sunday, near where the cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground.
The ship has a breach on the hull about 90 meters (300 feet) long, according to Officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.
On Saturday, January 14, crowds prepare to leave the island of Giglio, where passengers were staying after the ship ran aground.
The Concordia, built in 2006, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Cagliari and Palermo, Italy; Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Marseille, France.
Passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, on Saturday after being evacuated from the ship.
Costa says the emergency operation continues and that it is helping passengers and crew return home.
Italian police assist in the rescue after the cruise ship ran aground near the Italian island of Giglio.
The huge ship, which which is now lying on its side in shallow water, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground at about dinner time.
Passengers arrive on land after they were rescued. There was chaos as passengers scrambled to get off the ship.
Evacuation efforts started promptly but were made “extremely difficult” by the position of the listing ship.
The Costa Concordia cruise ship is pictured in March 2009 in Civitavecchia, Rome’s tourist port.
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Photos: Cruise ship runs aground off Italy
Those who made it off the vessel described the panic that ensued after the ship’s collision with the rocks.
Lauren Moore of Bowling Green, Kentucky, said many lifeboats were full when she and others reached the upper deck
“People were crying. People were hysterical,” Moore said. “People were screaming at each other.”
Beach said she was fortunate to get into a lifeboat with her husband.
“I certainly saw chaos and there was a lot of screaming and pushing and yelling, and it became a situation of every man for themselves. And everyone was trying to get in lifeboats and there was just not enough for the passengers that were on the boat,” Beach said.
Italian prosecutors have ruled out a technical error as the cause of the incident, saying the captain was on the bridge at the time and had made a “grave error.”
Prosecutors are considering whether others may share responsibility for the crash with the captain.
Schettino had never been involved in an accident before, said Costa chairman Pier Luigi Foschi.
Foschi placed blame for the wreck squarely on the captain, saying he deviated from frequently traveled routes.
“The captain decided to change the route and he went into water that he did not know in advance,” Foschi said.
Foschi said passengers would get “material compensation for their loss,” but declined to go into details.
CNN’s Livia Borghese, Hada Messia, Dan Rivers, Mary Snow, Christopher Cottrell, Diana Magnay and Richard Allen Greene and journalist Barbie Nadeau contributed to this report.
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on Jan 19 2012. Filed under 
