The sounds of plates crashing, things breaking, screams, and cries fill the entire Carnival Cruise ship on the night of Friday January 13th, 2012. No one on board of the Concordia knew what was to come. During dinner the ship began rocking and the passengers were told to not be alarmed by the captain, Francesco Schettino. Moments later everything began turning over. The ship had hit rocks and there was now a 160-foot gash in its hull. Chaos over took the ship and the 4,000 plus passengers and crew were in a frenzy. Some of the surviving passengers said it looked like a scene from Titanic.
Through the chaos people began questioning where Francesco Schettino was. As it turns out Schettino had already fled the scene on board of one of the few life boats. Many tabloids began calling him “the chicken of the sea” because as a captain he was supposed to stay on board until everyone was safe. The coast guard repeatedly told him to stay on board, but he refused. He had said he had gotten pushed on to one of the life boats and there was no way of him being able to get back on board.
There was a shortage of life boats and some of the passenger’s had to make the choice of staying on the boat in hopes of being rescued or to jump off and into the cold waters of the Mediterranean Sea. As of today 32 passengers and crew members are unaccounted for and 70 of the survivors are planning a class-action to get compensation from the cruise liner. The ship may now cause an environmental issue because there are now fears that the 500,000 gallons of the ships fuel may leak into the clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea. If leaked, the fuel may cause damage to the protected sanctuary for whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The total cost of cleanup is estimated to be around $40 million dollars.
