Why Did the Cruise Ship Costa Concordia Sank?

By Anna Duncan

On the night of January 13th, 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia sank off the coast of Isola del Giglio, a small island off the coast of Tuscany in Italy. The ship was carrying 4,252 passengers and crew members at the time. Unfortunately, 32 people lost their lives in this tragedy.

The incident occurred when the cruise ship was sailing too close to Giglio Island. The captain had decided to alter the route in order to give his passengers a better view of the island.

As a result, he steered too close to shore and ran aground on a submerged rock. The impact caused damage to both sides of the hull which resulted in extensive flooding.

The crew was ill-equipped to handle such an emergency situation. The captain and officers were not adequately trained for an emergency evacuation and failed to alert passengers about the impending danger. Furthermore, lifeboats were not deployed properly or in a timely manner which caused delays in evacuating everyone from the ship.

The accident was compounded by poor decisions made by both the captain and his officers. It appears that they had attempted to cover up their mistakes by initially claiming that they had encountered an electrical fault or technical failure. This was later proven false as evidence showed that they had steered too close to shore deliberately.

In addition, there have been allegations of negligence on behalf of Costa Cruises – owner of Costa Concordia – as they failed to provide proper safety protocols for their ships.

Conclusion:

The sinking of Costa Concordia is a tragedy that could have been avoided with proper safety protocols and better decision-making from its captain and crew members. Poor communication between officials also exacerbated this disaster as it caused delays in evacuating everyone from the ship and contributed to further loss of life.