Costa Concordia Cruise Ship Disaster Being Compared To Titanic, Dozens Feared Dead
Posted on Jan 14, 2012 @ 05:30PM
A massive cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Italy Friday night, and the disaster is already being compared to the Titanic.
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The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, was off the Tuscan coast when it ran aground on the tiny island of Giglio, tearing a 160-ft. gash in the hull.
Seventy passengers are still missing and feared dead, and many of those who were rescued are telling shocking stories of disorganization and slow response on part of the crew.
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"Have you seen 'Titanic?' That's exactly what it was," Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles who was traveling with her sister and parents, told AP. They all bore dark red bruises on their knees from the desperate crawl they endured along nearly vertical hallways and stairwells, trying to reach rescue boats.
"We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing," her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61 said. "We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls."
Several passengers said crew members initially told passengers a simple "technical problem" had caused the lights to go off and the ship to shudder. Experienced cruise travelers who suspected more, grabbed their life vests and raced to their "muster stations," the emergency stations each passenger is assigned to.
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Once there, though, crew members delayed lowering the lifeboats even thought the ship was listing badly
"We had to scream at the controllers to release the boats from the side," said Mike van Dijk, from South Africa. "We were standing in the corridors and they weren't allowing us to get onto the boats. It was a scramble, an absolute scramble."
Three passengers are already confirmed as dead.
Capt. Francisco Schettino is today being questioned by Italian authorities as to exactly what happened.
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The Daily Juice
If you had to crawl out of an overturned ship, would you think it was "no big deal"? No, it was not the same as the Titanic but 3 are dead and 70 are feared dead...hardly a "minor accident".
Posted Sun, 01/15/2012 - 1:26pm
Oh, please............This event does not even come close to the magnitude of the Titanic disaster. A comparison like that could only be drawn by someone who does not know their history!
Posted Sun, 01/15/2012 - 11:07am
Oh, and a big "BOO HOO" to "Valerie" on her substantial injuries. What a stupid schoolteacher. I feel sorry for her students if she cannot discern between this stupidity and the Titanic disaster.
Posted Sun, 01/15/2012 - 10:56am
This stupid ship, with 3 confirmed dead does NOT even COME CLOSE to comparing to that!!
Posted Sun, 01/15/2012 - 10:54am
Whichever IDIOT started comparing this "disaster" to the Titanic is a pathetic moron. Like it was stated before, the Titanic sunk in the middle of the night, in the frigid Atlantic with NO help on the way, and lost over FIFTEEN HUNDRED PEOPLE!!
Posted Sun, 01/15/2012 - 10:54am
~These top-heavy lavish-tubs are unsafe even dockside! One wonders if Capt. was sober, and seems Navigator & Pilot were not at all skilled; --even worse is being trapped in the ship's Glass-elevator (-where divers may still find some poor souls).!!!
Posted Sat, 01/14/2012 - 10:42pm
Hope this hurts the cruise ship industry for a long time.
Posted Sat, 01/14/2012 - 10:19pm
Cruise ships represent the Seven Deadly Sins add to that: a throwing ALL their trash overboard at sea, legally. Yes, they greatly contribute to the floating island of garbage that's the size of Texas (as do military boats, unfortunately).
Posted Sat, 01/14/2012 - 10:19pm
As traumatic as it must be to go through this, it's a far cry from the Titanic. The ship is a few yards off the coast, in the mediterrian sea (not exatcly freezing water). Heck, it hasn't even totally sunk as it is too shallow.
Posted Sat, 01/14/2012 - 8:11pm
It ain't the Titanic unless Decaprio was bangin' some fat chick in a car in the cargo hold.
Posted Sat, 01/14/2012 - 6:57pm