Costa Concordia - Five sentenced

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Madzng
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Costa Concordia - Five sentenced

Post by Madzng »

This has been news for a couple days now, but I need some help to understand one thing:

The Italian courts have passed sentence on five persons, involved in the Costa Concordia sinking/fiasco:
Crisis Co-ordinator - two years ten months
Hotel Director - two years six months
Two officers and the helmsman - between one year eight months and one year eleven months

The first two I understand and I am glad to see that the shore side management have ben included, I can also understand that the two bridge officers have been included, as they were almost as complicit in this event as the Master.

What I struggle to understand is why the helmsman has been prosecuted? Did his actions in some way contribute to the failure, I doubt from the steering position he would have had good oversight of the vessel exact and relative positions, and as a crew member I think it is high unlikely that he would of spoken out against three bridge officers unless the bridge team management had been close to perfect - which we already know it wasn't.

What could be the implications of this action? Should the helmsman come on watch and verify the vessel position and question the duty officer to ensure that he knows which way is port and starboard? What if a helmsman decides to question an emergency order before it is executed to make himself happy that its the right call and he wont be sent to prison because of his "ordered" actions.

Does anyone know what this helmsman did wrong? Did he play some other part in the incident that I am not aware of?
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A court IN Italy has convicted five employees of an Italian cruise company for the Costa Concordia shipwreck that killed 32 crew and passengers after it accepted their plea bargains.The longest sentence went to the crisis coordinator for Costa Crociere SpA, the cruise company, who was sentenced to two years and 10 months.
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Concordia’s hotel director was sentenced to two years and six months while two bridge officers and a helmsman got sentences ranging from one year and eight months to one year and 11 months.

The plea bargains were handled separately from the trial of Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino, who is charged with manslaughter for causing the January 2012 shipwreck off the Tuscan island of Giglio and abandoning the vessel with thousands aboard. That trial opened this week.

The Concordia, on a week-long Mediterranean cruise, speared a jagged granite reef when, prosecutors allege, Schettino steered the ship too close to Giglio’s rocky shores as a favor to a crewman whose relatives live on the island. If found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison. Schettino has denied the charges and insisted that the rock was not in nautical maps.

The reef sliced a 230-foot gash in the hull. Seawater rushed in, causing the ship to rapidly lean to one side until it capsized, then drifted to a rocky stretch of seabed just outside the island’s tiny port.

Survivors have described a delayed and confused evacuation. The bodies of two victims were never found, but they were declared dead after a long search.
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mrc82
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Re: Costa Concordia - Five sentenced

Post by mrc82 »

Hello!
In response to your question Madzng: Few months ago there was an documentary about Costa Concordia on National Geographic, hope it is not considered against posting rules telling the name of the producer, and they were saying that based on the recordings, that the helmsman acted 18 seconds in delay after he received order to avoid the rock: captain order hard to port ,if I remember correctly, and the helmsman took 18 seconds to take the action and confirm order. So that`s why I think he is sentenced 1 year and something. The helmsman is from somewhere south of Asia and I think he did not understand the orders that`s why it took so long or maybe he was not paying attention to the captain, or he does not know the language very well. Otherwise I`m sorry for the injured people and the dead ones.
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Madzng
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Re: Costa Concordia - Five sentenced

Post by Madzng »

Hi mrc82,

Thanks for the reply, I didn't know about the documentary. I'll have to and find it online to watch.

Welcome to the site.
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mrc82
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Re: Costa Concordia - Five sentenced

Post by mrc82 »

There are two documentaries: one with the accident and one after one year of the incident. Thanks for welcoming! All the best!
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JK
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Re: Costa Concordia - Five sentenced

Post by JK »

yes,welcome to the Forum. Off to Youtube to see if they were uploaded.
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