Responsibilities in the Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Sinking

Almost a full century after the Titanic sank off the coast of Newfoundland, a new maritime disaster is causing questions about passenger ship safety. Despite the possible magnitudes of maritime disasters, Cruise ship crews are not adhering to the safety guidelines created in the wake of Titanic’s fateful demise, and it has since claimed many lives.

Late in the evening of January 13^th, 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia hit a reef near the Italian city of Giglio, tearing a 50m long hole in the ship’s hull. The fact that the source of the hole was submersed just below the surface is just one of many parallels slowly emerging between the Costa Concordia and RMS Titanic. Some other similarities include the fact that both ships were traveling too fast for their surroundings and that the hull material was inadequate in such frigid waters (the Costa Concordia’s hull was not as flexible as in warmer weather, causing it to tear instead of bending). In the wake of the Costa Concordia’s misfortune, the public is calling for reforms.

Many questions arise from this disaster: Why was such a large ship so close to shore? Why did the ship leave her normal route to do a “salute” that few would see in the dark of night? How did the deaths occur? Statistically speaking, 32 is not a significant number; only 0.75% of the 4,229 people who were onboard perished, compared to 68% of passengers and crew aboard the Titanic who died. However, loss of life could have been completely avoided if proper procedures were followed. When the collision with the reef first occurred around 9:45 pm, the ship lost power. Rather than notifying the passengers of the potential danger, the captain attempted to guide the wounded ship to shore. Famously, Titanic crew members assured passengers that nothing was wrong. Since it was the first evening of the cruise, passengers unused to life at sea were remained unaware of their true danger. Without dedicated engineers to constantly shovel coal into furnaces, the ship had lost its ability to direct itself as the engines had ceased to function. It wasn’t until an hour later when it was dark and the ship was beginning to tilt dangerously to its starboard that the true situation emurged and passengers began to be evacuated.

The greatest faux pas in the ship’s final hour was the unfortunate incident when the captain “tripped into a life boat” and abandoned ship before many of the passengers. A captain should go down with their ship, or at the very least, they should be the last one to leave it. In theory, they would be the most knowledgeable about her layout and possible places where people could become trapped. Some news sources claim that Schettino carried a laptop with him off the ship to the cruise company’s lawyer, while others assert that it was not just the captain, but strategic members of the crew who abandoned ship early. The coast guard demanded that Schettino return to the ship to assist in evacuating, which he refused. He is currently under house arrest and will likely be charged with manslaughter charges.

As the search for survivors becomes a mission to recover bodies, the environmental repercussions of this disaster are becoming a pressing issue. Giglio is surrounded by the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, one of Europe’s biggest marine sanctuaries. The ship lies on a rock shelf near enough to slip over the edge and sink completely in to the sea, but if that were to happen, the fuel which remains onboard could cause a significant problem for the natural ecosystems in that area. Buffeted by waves, rescue efforts have been abandoned several times due to safety fears. The constant waves are also exasperating the pollution problem posed by the wreck. Absorbent booms are being used to contain the fuel while the Dutch salvage company SMIT works to remove the fuel from the ship, a process which could not be carried out effectively if the ship falls to a lower level of the ocean. The recovery efforts, which involve blasting holes in the ships sides to allow divers to search for bodies, are not aiding in the effort to limit pollution in Europe’s most beloved marine sanctuary.

Scandals are piling up heavily in the wake of the accident, including the presence of unregistered passengers whose professions include “dancer” and “entertainer.” As an engineer looking at this problem, I see how far technology has come and how blindly we choose to rely on it. Regulations only solve problems if they are followed by the people they are put in place to protect. In this case, human error does not even touch the tip of the iceberg as far as gross incompetency and irresponsibility goes. How we are coping with the recovery process, searching uninvasively for survivors and corpses using robots, isolating spilled fuel with absorbent booms and recovering fuel from within the ship itself bodes well for our ability to maintain a clean environment for future generations.

Finally, a reminder to all of you heading out on co-op in a few short months: All rules exist for a reason. Let’s set a good example for ourselves and our co-workers. The worst thing I could think of would be finding myself responsible for the death of another person, much less the deaths of 32.