Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy

Wow what a project that was......Spent more to salvage then to build !!
Talk about some people putting their minds together....so many things to create to over come so many obstacles !! But they got it done!
Amazing and beautiful area underwater there as well.

And again

NOVA
Next episode: Sunken Ship Rescue

Fri 1/23 12:00 AM 202 WPBTDT2 (Cbl) 1 hour TV-PG

Apparently not as big a project as getting the captain into court...

1.2 Billion dollars for the entire salvage, with steel prices down and Iron Ore at historic lows, I doubt that scrap value will cover more than 20% of the cost. Having said that, what an incredible Engineering feat, what a great show that was.

Yea I heard that and I still do not grasp why he went in like that in the first place. I thought I knew but after hearing so many things I am not sure what i know.....

Oh you are not kidding there.. I was amazed at how much preperation had to go into this and how long each step took. Totaly Amazing.
I think some boaters I have seen over the years could use having one or two of those engineering masters on their boat at all times. lol

Finally, ther may be some justice soon:


ROME (AP) - Prosecutors asked a court to convict the captain of the Costa Concordia and sentence him to 26 years in prison Monday for the 2012 shipwreck off Tuscany that killed 32 people, saying the term is hardly excessive given the death toll.
Prosecutor Maria Navarro also asked the court to detain Capt. Francesco Schettino again and seize his passport and navigation license, saying he is a flight risk. She said the trial had proved that Schettino "thought only and always about himself."
Schettino is being tried for manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning the Concordia while many passengers and crew members were still aboard. Survivors of the Jan. 13, 2012, wreck described a chaotic and delayed evacuation, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was already listing so much.
Schettino has said he saved lives by steering the liner toward shore after it hit rocks that weren't on his charts. He has accused his crew of botching his orders and blamed faulty generators aboard the ship for contributing to the disaster.
In scathing closing statements in the makeshift courthouse in Grossetto, Navarro accused Schettino of lying from the start, of never apologizing to the victims and saving his own life "without even getting his shoes wet."
She said the requested sentence, beyond the 20-year maximum speculated, was not "exaggerated" considering Italy's high court recently confirmed a 10-year prison sentence for a car accident that killed four people.
The defense is expected to respond in court starting Feb. 9, with a verdict expected thereafter.
Defense attorney Donato Laino was incredulous at the prosecutors' request to re-arrest Schettino, saying the flight risk was "nonexistent."
Schettino was granted house arrest soon after the wreck, and later was allowed to remain in his hometown near Naples during the course of the trial. He has attended most court sessions, though he was absent Monday.
Five other Costa Crociere employees indicted in the case were allowed to enter plea bargains and none is serving prison time."
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As the prosecutor seeks re-arrest, and the defense attorney argues that the risk of flight is "nonexistent", I note the he skipped court Monday. Does he have someplace more important to be? As for whether he'd run away if he thinks it isn't going his way, I think that questions was answered on the day the ship sank.

CNN just reported our boy got convicted. No word yet as to what the punishment will be.

Looks like 16 years. Apparently, each life lost was worth 6 months.

Does he now get out while he appeals? One can only hope that eventually he sees the inside of a prison, and that his fellow inmates extract proper justice due a coward.

Don't remember where exactly, a while earlier I stumbled upon a verdict for some high-profile case where in addition to jail time one was also explicitly prohibited from writing a book about it. (Or was it phrased in a way of "any proceeds from any books written will go to the State..." - really don't remember).
In this particular case something like that could save the world from a lecture cycle on "handling emergencies"!

I believe that was Son of Sam or possibly John Wayne Gacy. I'd be surprised to see that with an Italian court. In fact I'll be (pleasantly) surprised if I see him actually do prison time.

The story I read said that he would remain free pending the appeals. The story specifically pointed out that Italian appeals last for years.

What a surprise.

Ship Photos of the Day – A Current Look At and Inside the Dismantled Costa Concordia

Menkes, you are right. Sorry the site does not like copy / pasting it's site.
g captain dot com will get you there unless the mods disagree.

Chesapeak46, I think the address you gave is erroneous.

I agree considering that younger American girl stayed locked up in an Italian jail for years even while appealing, after her boyfriend or friend overdosed on drugs with her.

I think the Italian judicial system is generally considered a bad joke.

To me it seems like the criteria for becoming a skipper for a major liner varries from country to country.