Why did concordia capsize

The cruise ship capsized after hitting rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Schettino has not yet begun his sentence and has one final appeal to Italy's highest court. He was not in the Florence court when the verdict was read out by the presiding judge on Tuesday evening, Italian media reported. At the original trial, investigators had severely criticised his handling of the disaster, accusing him of bringing the cruise ship too close to shore when it struck the rocks.

More than 4, passengers and crew were forced into a chaotic evacuation. It's not possible to steer a ship with no propulsion, Bolton says. Schettino still had options, though. The maneuver probably saved lives but had unintended consequences. On the way, the ship lurched again. The Concordia had struck shore, where it was bound to capsize. The captain gave the official order to abandon ship.

By law, all 26 lifeboats have to be launched within 30 minutes of an evacuation order. But the crew's delay made an orderly escape impossible. Rosenthal and her sister were in one of the first lifeboats to drop from the ship. They arrived on the Giglio pier at pm; on arrival a volunteer rushed up and asked for their life vests. They were told an estimated passengers were trapped where they couldn't retrieve vests from their rooms.

At around pm, Schettino boarded a lifeboat or, as he claims, fell into one and headed to land, abandoning the ship and hundreds of passengers. Other officers onboard the Concordia reportedly followed suit, while some ferried passengers to land in the lifeboats. Nancy Lofaro recalls the agonizing wait inside the lifeboat as crew members fumbled to lower it. The ship's pitch made it nearly impossible to lower the boat into the water. Schettino beached the Concordia in about 45 feet of water.

The water was 57 degrees Fahrenheit—a temperature at which limbs become immobile in minutes and hypothermia can manifest within an hour. By then the Italian Coast Guard helicopters had pinpointed the wreck by its last transmitted GPS data and were spotting survivors with infrared cameras. Coast Guard helicopter pilots dropped harnesses to hoist more than people clinging to the decks that were above water. Coast Guard officer De Falco tracked down Schettino on his cellphone.

The Coast Guard officer demanded that Schettino return but was rebuffed. One lesson has already become industry practice: Lifeboat drills are held before a ship departs, instead of within the first 24 hours of a cruise. The Titanic's sinking, despite the human errors that caused it, became a metaphor for unearned faith in technology.

This article appears in the May issue of Popular Mechanics. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia. Firefighters on a dinghy look at a rock emerging from the side of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, the day after it ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan.

The ship Costa Concordia was operated by the notable Italian cruise line Costa Conciere which was established in Since the year when the company commenced passenger services, it has established a good reputation over the years and ultimately became one of the largest cruise operators in the world.

The following article sheds light on the reasons behind the capsizing as well as lists out the circumstances that led to the disaster. On the night of January 13, , Costa Concordia struck her port side on an underwater reef near the Italian island of Isola del Giglio. The ship immediately lost all propulsive power and soon after there was a complete blackout as water reached the electrical panels.

This led to the rapid flooding of the watertight compartments and ultimately led to its capsize. From rough seas to mapping of the ocean floor to high-speed winds; all relevant data is available with a ship at regular intervals. The topography of any area in which the ship sails forth is already available on board a ship. Despite all this, the ship Costa Concordia struck an underwater reef off the coast of the Italian Island Isola del Giglio and grounded, finally resting on the rocks near the coast.

A big question arises as to why was the ship sailing so near the coast in the first place which ultimately led to one of the most horrifying disasters in international cruising. Most cruise ships perform what is called a Sail — By Maneuver. The ship takes a slight deviation from its official course to sail near an island just to give the passengers a unique glimpse of it and give a nod to the fellow sailors on land.

This is a routine manoeuvre in cruise lining and has been practised successfully across the world for years.