Many famous naval disasters occur far at sea, but on January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia wrecked just off the coast of an Italian island in relatively shallow water. The preventable disaster killed 32 people and seriously injured many more, and left investigators wondering: why was the luxury cruise ship sailing so close to shore in the first place?
In the ensuing trial, prosecutors offered a ready-made explanation: The married ship’s captain had sailed him so close to the island to impress a much younger Moldovan dancer he was having an affair with.
Whether or not Captain Francesco Schettino was trying to impress his girlfriend is debatable. (Schettino insisted the ship sailed close to shore to greet other sailors and give passengers a good view.) But whatever the reason for getting too close, Italian courts have found the captain, four crew members and an official from the ship’s company, Costa Crociere (part of Carnival Corporation), to be responsible for the incident and for preventing a safe evacuation. The wreck was not the fault of unforeseen weather or vessel malfunction – it was a disaster caused entirely by a series of human errors.
“At any point in time when you have an incident similar to Concordia, there is never… a single causal factor,” says Brad Schoenwald, Senior Marine Inspector for the United States Coast Guard. “It’s usually a sequence of events, things that don’t line up that ultimately create this incident.”
READ MORE: 5 maritime disasters you might not know
Demolition near the shore
Technicians pass in a small boat near the Costa Concordia cruise liner, which ran aground off the Isola del Giglio on January 26, 2012 after hitting underwater rocks on January 13.
FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP via Getty Images
Concord was supposed to take passengers on a seven-day Italian cruise from Civitavecchia to Savona. But when it deviated from its intended course to get closer to Giglio Island, the ship struck a reef known as Scole Rocks. The impact damaged the ship, allowing water to seep in and endanger the 4,229 people on board.
Sailing close to shore to provide a good view for passengers or to greet other sailors is known as “sailing”, and it is not known how often cruise ships perform these maneuvers. Some see them as dangerous deviations from planned routes. In its 2012 disaster investigation report, the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport found that the Concordia “was sailing too close to shore, in a poorly lit coastal area … at a dangerous distance at night and at high speed (15.5 kts). “
During his trial, Captain Schettino blamed the sinking on coxswain Jacob Rusli Bin, who he said reacted badly to his order; and argued that if the helmsman had reacted correctly and quickly, the vessel would not have been wrecked. However, an Italian navy admiral testified in court that even if the helmsman was late in carrying out the captain’s orders, “the accident would have happened anyway.” (The helmsman was one of four crew members convicted by the court of having contributed to the disaster.)
READ MORE: Titanic in numbers: from construction to disaster to discovery
A questionable evacuation
Former Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino speaks to reporters after being on board the ship with the team of experts inspecting the wreck on February 27, 2014 in Isola del Giglio, Italy. The Italian captain boarded the wreck for the first time since the cruise ship sank on January 13, 2012, as part of his trial for manslaughter and abandon ship.
Laura Lezza / Getty Images
Evidence presented in Schettino’s trial suggests that the safety of his passengers and crew was not his number one priority as he assessed the damage to the Concordia. The impact and the water leaks caused a blackout on the ship, and a recorded phone call with Costa Crociere crisis coordinator Roberto Ferrarini shows he tried to downplay and cover up his actions claiming that the breakdown was the cause of the accident.
“I made a mess and pretty much the whole ship is being flooded,” Schettino told Ferrarini as the ship sank. “What should I say to the media?… To the port authorities, I said that we had… a blackout. (Ferrarini was later convicted of contributing to the disaster by delaying rescue operations.)
Schettino also did not immediately alert Italian search and rescue authorities of the crash. The impact on the Scole Rocks occurred at around 9.45 p.m. local time, and the first person to contact rescue officials about the ship was a person on shore, according to the investigation report. Search and Rescue contacted the ship a few minutes after 10 p.m., but Schettino did not tell them what had happened for about 20 more minutes.
READ MORE: Why no one remembers America’s worst maritime disaster
A little over an hour after the impact, the crew began to evacuate the vessel. But the report noted that some passengers testified that they did not hear the alarm to make their way to the lifeboats. The evacuation was made even more chaotic by the ship’s list to starboard, making walking inside very difficult and lowering the lifeboats to one side almost impossible. To make matters worse, the crew had cast anchor incorrectly, rocking the ship even more dramatically.
Through the confusion, the captain made it into a lifeboat before everyone left. An angry Coast Guard member told him over the phone to “Get back on board, dammit!” – a recorded sound sequence that turned into a t-shirt slogan in Italy.
Schettino argued that he fell into a lifeboat because of the ship’s list, but this argument proved unconvincing. In 2015, a court found Schettino guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning the ship before passengers and crew were evacuated and lying to authorities about the disaster. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Besides Schettino, Ferrarini and Rusli Bin, the other people convicted of their role in the disaster were cabin service manager Manrico Giampedroni, first officer Ciro Ambrosio and third officer Silvia Coronica.
