Once the ship reached aground passengers and crew were immediately taken ashore by lifeboats and some even swam to the nearby island. Helicopters, medical, and rescue crews were immediately called on sight to help as many victims as possible. Rescue divers also attended the scene to search within the ship for missing victims. After days of searching the ship for trapped survivors, actions were taken to further prevent an environmental disaster. Shortly after, the majority of the ships "heavy fuel was removed". When the de-fueling was completed, plans to remove the ship were implemented - it will be re-floated and removed whole. The salvage operation has begun in June, however it will take up to twelve months and 300 million dollars to remove the ship.
Timeline for the further removal of the ship wreckage:
| July 31, 2012 | Site inspections of the ship and its position. | |
| August 1-31, 2012 | Securing of the wreck to ensure on-going safety and stability. | |
| September - November 2012 | Installation of caissons on left side of vessel and construction of submarine platforms. | |
| December 1, 2012 | Rotation of the wreck begins with the installation of boxes on its right side. | |
| January 15, 2013 | Ship to be up-righted above waterline. | |
| January 31, 2013 | Ship delivered to an Italian port for processing according to regulations. | |
| April 30, 2013 | Cleaning and replanting of marine flora expected to be completed. |
In this disaster, the captain of the ship was at blame for the ship capsizing. The captain was later arrested for manslaughter, failing to assist passengers, and failing to be the last to leave the ship. He is currently under house arrest and awaiting trial.
Regardless of the captain for being at the root of this crisis, I do believe that the fellow crew members of the ship did for the majority abide by the six rules of crisis management. After realizing that a crisis was initiated, crew members immediately instructed passengers to put on their life jackets. Life boats were also released and passengers were instructed to move to a specific area of the ship. Also, professional divers were called on site to rescue passengers that were trapped. In this specific crisis, waiting cannot be a strategy. The Costa Concordia is the size of slightly more than two football fields and is now known as the largest ship to capsize.
This situation was also highly unfamiliar, it was the route of numerous cruise ships that would tour this same route everyday. Members of the crew and passengers would also never imagine this to happen, which caused for much distress. Some members of the crew were reported for not properly dictating instructions for safety. The last two rules for crisis management do not greatly apply to this specific crisis. However, just days ago the crew of the Costa Concordia was awarded the "Seafarer of the Year" award for their bravery and skilled response because the number of fatalities could have been greatly higher.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/world/europe/italian-cruise-ship-accident-raises-questions-about-crew-and-captain.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/italy-ship-idUSL5E8CN3WV20120123
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/05/world/europe/italy-cruise-ship-captain/index.html
The capsize of the cruise liner was a very big crisis and there definitely could have been far more fatalities. To only walk away with 32 deaths for such a huge ship to turnover says a lot about the management of the crisis. There was not much time to gather information to rescue the passengers. Time was the essence in this case. But most importantly they did have to respect the danger of the unfamiliar. A ship on its size of that magnitude was very unfamiliar territory. The rescuing crews performed very well. Shame that the same cannot be said for the captain.
ReplyDelete32 fatalities out of 4,200 passengers speaks for itself how well the crew handled the crisis, especially when the crew was given entirely no direction from their captain. When a ship of that size begins to capsize there is little time to make decisions on how to organize and save so many lifes. Thankfully, the crew focused on passengers and not the absence of their captain, otherwise time would have ticked by fast and many many more lives could have been lost. Unfortunately, the accident has a very turbulent economic impact on the islands surrounding it. However, an economy can be recovered, slowly but surely: lives can not.
ReplyDeleteThe crew did an amazing job in saving a lot of lives. The captain who was in control of the ship should have had more responsibility. His ignorance caused 32 lives. The captain and the crews should go through extensive training courses and rehearsals so that they can handle situations like this even better. It is very hard to tell how people react to sudden accidents but training in this field will also enhance their skills in order to deal with these situations. Proper training helps to tackle situation which people are not aware of.
ReplyDeleteThis real life example shows the importance of having an good manager. If the captain was a good leader this crisis could have been better addressed.I agreed with Danuel Kader, the captain and the crew should had gone though trainning. it should be a part of test for the captain licence.
ReplyDeletesad to hear that the captain of the ship didn't do much when this event occurred. Not only did he crashed the ship, he abandoned his crew mates and the passengers that were on board the ship. This is a great display of horrible management when placed under pressure. 32 out 4,200 is very good considering the situation they were placed in. The crew members were definitely a helping factor.
ReplyDelete