Heartbreaking: More Dead Bodies Found Trapped Underwater in Shipwrecked ‘Costa Concordia,’ Hope Dims for People Still Missing from Luxury Cruise Liner (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on January 19, 2012
Shipwreck tragedy: The death toll rises for those who perished on the 'Costa Concordia' luxury liner this past week
The tragedy and horror of last week’s Costa Concordia disaster haven’t abated — five more people have been found trapped underwater in the capsized luxury cruise liner.
Although they were wearing lifejackets, all five had perished.
Rescue teams continue to search for people still missing — according to several news accounts, the number missing is at 23 (other sources state that 21 or 22 people are missing) and those who were killed in the ship accident off the coast of Italy now number 11. Hope is plummeting that those who are missing will be found alive.
Prayers go to all the families and friends of those who died in this senseless, avoidable tragedy.
From Sky News, Bodies Found After Divers Blast Holes In Ship:
Five more bodies have been found inside the capsized Costa Concordia after rescue workers used explosives to blast holes in the half-submerged ship.
The bodies of four men and one woman in their 50s and 60s, all wearing lifejackets, were found together below the waterline at the front of the ship as hopes fade of finding any more survivors inside the cruise ship.
Coastguard diver Rudolfo Raitere said: “The charges that were exploded in the morning facilitated the recovery of the five bodies.
“They helped clear a quicker and easier way to the back of the ship where the bodies were. They were on deck four, close to a muster station.”
The latest discovery meant 11 people were now confirmed dead following the evacuation of the ship after hit rocks on Friday night. At least 23 others were still missing.
Three controlled blasts were made to allow rescue teams searching for survivors access to areas of the ship they had previously been unable to explore.
Russia Times: Rescue team video: Search for Costa Concordia survivors
From New York Times, More Bodies Found on Ship, as Transcripts Reveal Rebuke to Captain:
GIGLIO, Italy — Rescuers pulled five bodies clad in sodden life vests from the partly sunken cruise liner Costa Concordia on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in the disaster to at least 11, as the Italian news media published transcripts of a tense screaming match between the coast guard and the captain, who fled to a lifeboat after he smashed the ship on a reef.
Publication of the transcripts added a dramatic new dimension to the accounts of the accident on Friday night, when Capt. Francesco Schettino, 52, apparently tried to show off the gleaming $450 million vessel to residents of this island off the coast of Tuscany, and in the process ripped a hole in its hull. The ship quickly began to list heavily to starboard as panicked passengers and crew members made pell-mell escapes, evoking images of the Titanic’s final moments.
“Go up on the bow of the ship on a rope ladder, and tell me what you can do, how many people are there and what they need — now!” Gregorio Maria De Falco, a coast guard officer, told Captain Schettino by telephone as the captain bobbed Friday night in a lifeboat, as revealed in audio recordings published by Corriere della Sera, a leading Italian newspaper. “All right, I’m going,” Captain Schettino is heard to reply.
The recordings and transcripts suggested that the coast guard officer was stupefied that Captain Schettino had vacated the ship before accounting for all 4,200 passengers and crew members on board. They also indicate that the captain did not know that people had died, and had asked the coast guard officer for an accounting. “You are the one who has to tell me how many there are! Christ!” the officer screams at the captain in response.
Prosecutors and the cruise line that owns the ship have blamed Captain Schettino for the wreck, saying he deviated from the course plotted in advance. Captain Schettino has said that he hit an uncharted rock.
CNN: Underwater View of Concordia Wreck
From Los Angeles Times, Search resumes for those missing on Costa Concordia:
REPORTING FROM ROME –- Scuba divers and other specialists Thursday resumed search operations on the overturned Costa Concordia, at this point trying to find bodies of about 22 people still missing and probably trapped when the cruise ship wrecked Friday.
Efforts to penetrate even deeper into the partially submerged vessel had been suspended Wednesday when sensors showed that the ship, resting on a rock bed off the coast of the Italian Island of Giglio, had shifted position by about a yard. Environmental Minister Corrado Clini warned that there was serious danger the ship could slip off its perch and down a drop-off of about 230 to 260 feet to the sea floor.
Fuel-recovery experts from the Dutch company Smit Salvage were preparing Thursday to begin operations to retrieve more than 2,300 tons of fuel inside several cisterns.
From Daily Mirror, Costa Concordia: Crew members claim ship’s alarm only sounded after ship started to submerge:
Crew members from the Costa Concordia have said the doomed liner’s alarm sounded very late and that they didn’t realise the scale of the disaster until the ship started rolling on its side.
The claims came as more victims have been named while divers continue to search the wreckage for the remaining 21 missing people.
Two of the bodies recovered earlier this week have been identified as missing French passengers Jeanne Gannard and Pierre Gregoire.
Today, four Indian crew members returned to New Delhi and spoke out about the disaster, which has so far claimed 11 lives.
Ship waiter Mukesh Kumar, 26, said “the emergency alarm was sounded very late”, only after the ship “started tilting and water started seeping” in.
Another kitchen worker also told how he didn’t realise the seriousness of the disaster until the ship started rolling onto its side.
“The ship shook for a while, and then the crockery started falling all over,” Kandari Surjan Singh said. “People started panicking.
“Then the captain ordered that everything is under control and that it was a normal electric fault … so people calmed down after that.”
Divers are scouring the submerged area of the Costa Concordia after officials determined it had stabilised following shifting on the rocks off the island of Giglio yesterday.
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This is so sad. So many innocent people died. I hope the captain is punished severely for the deaths he caused.