What Cruise Ship Sank in Italy?

By Michael Ferguson

On January 13, 2012, the cruise ship ‘Costa Concordia’ sank off the coast of Italy after striking a reef near the island of Giglio. The accident resulted in 32 fatalities, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.

The Costa Concordia was owned and operated by Costa Crociere S.p.A., a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc, and had a capacity of 4,252 passengers and 1,023 crew members. It had been on its first cruise when it struck the reef shortly after 9 p.m., due to an error in navigation. Passengers reported a loud scraping noise followed by an announcement that the ship was experiencing technical difficulties and would soon be returning to port.

However, the captain ordered that lifeboats only be partially deployed as he believed that he could still save the ship from sinking. Unfortunately, this proved to be false as water began to quickly fill up parts of the vessel and eventually lead to its sinking at around 11:45 p.. Many passengers were forced to jump into the cold waters or cling onto lifeboats as they waited for rescue services to arrive on site.

The tragedy not only caused 32 fatalities but also sparked widespread outrage against Captain Francesco Schettino who had abandoned his post before all passengers were evacuated from the vessel. He was later accused of multiple charges including manslaughter and abandoning his post before all passengers were safe; he was eventually sentenced to 16 years in prison in February 2015 for his role in this disaster.

Since then, there has been much discussion about how such a tragedy could have been prevented and what can be done to ensure better safety standards for cruise ships in future – such as improved training for captains and crew members as well as greater emphasis on safety drills for passengers so that they are better prepared in case of an emergency situation at sea.

In conclusion, ‘Costa Concordia’ is the name of the cruise ship that sank off Italy’s coast on January 13th 2012 due to an error in navigation resulting in 32 fatalities – with much discussion afterwards about what can be done to ensure better safety standards for cruise ships going forward so that such tragedies may never happen again.