Costa Concordia Disaster: New Photos Show Ship Hours After It Ran Aground

New photos have surfaced showing the Costa Concordia in the immediate hours after the cruise liner ran aground off the coast of Italy's Isola del Giglio.

The Costa Concordia rammed into a reef and capsized on the night of January 13 when it steered too close to the Tuscan coast. The ship was on a cruise of the Mediterranean and had 4,200 people aboard. The bodies of 16 people killed in the disaster have been found, and 17 remain missing.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, has been accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all passengers were evacuated. He is currently under house arrest.

See the new photos in the slideshow below.

Comments

[on1wheel750]

09:33 AM on 01/27/2012

it didnt sink,,,,,find a safe spot and wait it out...............

[salesdude]

01:02 AM on 01/27/2012

Cruise ship designers have to address the fact that once a ship begins to list past a certain point, the lifeboats on the opposite side are no longer launchable and the ones on the downward side may be swamped before they can all be launched. This leaves a severe shortage of available craft to rescue people. What would have been the de@th toll had this happened far out at sea?

[gn32olds]

02:54 AM on 01/27/2012

Far out to sea? His whole problem was that he wasn't far out enough. It would still be floating with no damage from the gigantic rocks he hit.

[salesdude]

09:29 AM on 01/27/2012

What you say is true but my comment was not specifically about this cruise ship specifically. There have been other passenger and cruise ships that have sunk before all the lifeboats could be launched due to the angle the ship was at while it was going down.

[MolliBlum]

03:59 PM on 01/29/2012

What I don't understand is why they have rigid lifeboats in the first place -- surely inflatable liferafts would be more useful on such vessels.

[Ecosailor7]

05:58 PM on 01/29/2012

Inflatable liferafts have no means of propulsion. The liferafts on CC were left hanging or sitting passively by the side of the ship. The boats, when launched successfully, made it to shore with passengers and crew. The problem for both is that the don't work well, and are hard to launch when the ship has a list over 20º. They tend to hang up on the side, or are so far away from the side that they can't be boarded from deck level as intended. New lifeboats all have covered cabins and are far safer and more stable than the old open lifeboats. There is a limited ability for lifeboats to be launched from a slowly moving ship. Liferafts work badly when the ship is moving. And, liferafts can't be inflated and boarded at deck level.

That said, the main problem with the CC disaster was that the captain waited over an hour as the ship sank to have people board and launch the boats, by which time the list had become a real problem. He says he did this to avoid panic, but it failed on all counts.

[salesdude]

09:58 PM on 01/29/2012

I think they should have plenty of both.

[Fan Tastic]

12:42 AM on 01/27/2012

Anyone getting on a cruise ship have got to be out of their minds!

[mcinnisja]

02:04 AM on 01/27/2012

I'm of two minds about that.

[rich3324]

07:20 AM on 01/27/2012

I saw a car accident the other day, guess I should stop driving.

[weathergirl]

12:42 AM on 01/27/2012

I thought that the captain had been telling the company that the electricity was out! yet the boat is lit up like a christmas tree! since the pictures show the ship already down more by the stern, how come they are not getting more lifeboats away! the boats need to clear the structure since the ship is listing! With that many portals below the water, how come the captain did not realize that his ship was sinking and that he needed to get everybody off?????

[Garioch]

12:10 PM on 01/29/2012

It looks from them that the power was out, what you're seeing these are the emergency lights which have their own battery back up integral to the actual light units.
If you look at the areas which are not emergency escape routes and the like they're all in darkness.

[Ecosailor7]

10:33 PM on 01/29/2012

The ship's main engine/generator rooms were flooded completely and immediately. They have an emergency generator or two, much smaller, usually up by the smoke stack that provides emergency lighting, power for the lifeboat davits, and probably steering and other controls as well. Thus the lighting. The captain was informed by the Chief Engineer about 10 minutes after the first grounding that they had lost control of the ship. Five compartments were flooded, and the ship could only stay afloat with 3 flooded. Pumps are totally inadequate for holes this size. Why the Captain misled everyone, failed to call a Mayday, failed to start the abandon ship process earlier, failed to ask for help in a timely way, and many other errors is known to him alone. We may find out when the inquiry is completed.

[Charles Carmichael]

08:50 PM on 01/26/2012

I just cancelled my Atlantis cruise.

[byronic]

08:28 PM on 01/26/2012

Where's the slide show? Lots of bugs still in the iPad app it seems...

[clodpoll]

08:26 PM on 01/26/2012

Obama's fault! Just ask Kalik.

[socalcde]

08:42 PM on 01/26/2012

Give it a break. That is very inappropriate here.

[filliperogers]

07:28 PM on 01/26/2012

Wonder how much they pay those captains? Maybe there is a reason he got off rather early.....

[leonkurt]

07:16 PM on 01/26/2012

I heard Italy is sending its Navy to help us secure shipping in the Persian Gulf. All eight gondolas will be there.

[mcinnisja]

02:05 AM on 01/27/2012

LOL - I never tire of that joke.

[ethelmertzrules]

07:09 PM on 01/26/2012

Did the sharks eat the ones they can't find?

[ethelmertzrules]

07:06 PM on 01/26/2012

Where did they get the pictures? Look at the view. Was someone on shore? Were they via satellite or were they from some camera mounted on a building?

[Simon Leitch]

07:44 PM on 01/26/2012

Shore. There is a decent land mass, with some pretty high rocks not far away. Have a look at the satellite pics and you'll figure it out. Amazing photos. Im actually surprise there are never images of people in the water. It was only metres from shore in calm whether, and not tooooooo cold water (granted, not a spa bath by any means). Don't think I would be waiting for a life boat with the shore that close....in hindsight it would have been better to stay on, now knowing that it didn't sink or roll more, but at the time I would be very worried about it rolling with me still on it. No thanks!

[3daywkend]

09:20 PM on 01/26/2012

With a life preserver on I'd swim for it. You'd have to be a pretty confident swimmer without.

[anneeger]

07:01 PM on 01/26/2012

I always thought that the power was out?

[shadygrovefarm]

08:55 AM on 01/27/2012

No. Lights were affected in the dining area, and crew told some passengers "It's just a power outage."

[tfcrow]

06:58 PM on 01/26/2012

Tom Cruise's fault.

[siliconvalleygirl]

09:42 PM on 01/26/2012

IDIOT.

[eddjr66]

06:55 PM on 01/26/2012

This Captain should be strung up by his ankles, made to walk the plank. please send him away for a long time. A pretty girl and some fine wine, oh what it makes a man do

[11 6 2012]

08:39 PM on 01/26/2012

Never ground a vessel.

[buzzina]

06:49 PM on 01/26/2012

I imagine some people died because they tried to go back to their cabins to retrieve something of value to them. When on a sinking ship or in a burning building, get out asap.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

06:59 PM on 01/26/2012

.....unless the "duty-free" shop is unguarded.....and you're just passing....

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

07:09 PM on 01/26/2012

I read about a violinist going back to his soon-to-be submerged cabin to retrieve his instrument and not making it back. As expensive as it might have been, it's not worth a human life.

[buzzina]

08:03 PM on 01/26/2012

Yes, that in fact made me cry. The crew are wonderful people. They work hard, long hours for little money. I imagine he was very talented and intelligent, he probably did not have money to replace his violin. I understand he helped many passengers before he went back. Very tragic.

[MolliBlum]

03:50 PM on 01/29/2012

His name was Sandor Feher.
Here is a video he made to apply for a job as violin teacher:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beLfp88U_nY