GIGLIO, ITALY (BDCi) – – Three more survivors and two more dead people were pulled from an Italian cruise ship which ran aground outside the Tuscany shores Friday. As rescuers continue to work feverishly early Monday to rescue and recover the missing, the count of people who died on the ship called Costa Concordia numbered 5 with 64 injured. The cruise ship which is operated by Costa Crociere, a Carnival subsidiary, journeyed too close to the Tuscan shore Friday, hit a rock which forged a huge whole on its right side which caused the ship to list quickly on that side, submerging several stories of the ship within an estimated 200-300 meters of land. The captain, Francesco Schettino, abandoned ship but was picked up by local Italian police and charged with manslaughter, causing shipwreck and abandoning ship. The first officer was also detained. Passengers and crew on the 114,500 ton vessel totaled 4,229 including 53 Brazilians and an estimated 126 from the United States. Of the five who died, one was a Peruvian national.
Ironically, this year is the 100th anniversary of the Titanic tragedy. Over 1,500 perished in that cruise ship disaster, and unlike the Costa Concordia’s skipper, the Titanic captain chose to go down with the ship.
By Don Weinstein Source: Reuters Photo courtesy of: Reuters 15 January 2012
7:58p.m. P.S.T.