Cruise Liner Tragedy - Italy (Titanic 2) (Page 1 of 2)

From one who is very familiar with modern shipboard practice and navigation, this was nothing less than criminal negligence by the Captain and crew. Modern navigation aids and electronic cartography make an accident like this nearly impossible. Praying that all survivors are safely rescued.
Rick

The ship was clearly not in as deep water as the captain is now. How could they have been going so relatively fast, so close to shore, that hitting a "reef" could cause a tear of nearly 100 meters? Something doesn't add up.

A purser with a broken leg was rescued out of the ship today, but there still seem to be around 40 people missing. This was a tragedy that certainly should not have been possible nowadays.

I read today that the skipper joined the firm 11 years ago as a security official although thats not to say he didn't have the necessary seafaring qualifications. He was promoted from second officer in 2006 according to reports.

Looking at the resting position of the ship, even allowing for some forward motion after the hit, to see such a huge vessel so close to shore on its side tells its own story.

Unless the skipper can prove there was a catastrophic equipment failure which also rendered his common sense 'MIA', this guy and his bridge crew have got to be up on manslaughter charges. I hear it is now 6 dead and 14 missing. Out of 4000+ they can be lucky it is so few.

The Captain made another error - he has said publicly, he was the last off the ship - from what has transpired so far - NO, he wasn't!

I seem to remember reading that it was a purser who had broken his leg, which is why he couldn't get out on his own.

I'm looking forward to them patching that hole and then pulling the monster upright.

everybody's probably seen it by now, got too close so his head waiter could wave to his dad on the island. So it appears he was off course on purpose. Negligence is one thing, stupidity quite another. What a dumbass.

Tres

Certainly his decision to bring the ship even closer to the island after the impact HAS probably saved lives given that the evacuation process appears to have been inadequate.

Being cynical, if it is proved and sounds like it has been, it also enabled him to get off sooner. Now why the hell did he do that, given how it would look?

The charts may have been wrong, but it is no defence as he shouldn't have been there in the first place having deviated from his agreed route. Deviations are allowed of course, at the captains discretion, which he excercised but with catastrophic consequences.

It is clear the rapid listing of the ship caused the evacuation to be less organised and it may have also contributed to him leaving the ship, but given what had occurred it would have served him better, if it was possible, to remain aboard.

I guess when all the facts are known his action to bring the ship in closer will be taken into account on the credit side, but if his bad judgement caused the disaster in the first place he must surley go down on manslaughter charges.

If he was a naval captain this would be court martial and chokey in fairly short order I should think.

Agreed with both Ian196 & Hansamike have said so far.
It's safe to say, the Captain will - i hope, face more than one charge.
The outcome is rather less certain - knowing the history of the Italian criminal justice system!