ITALY: Explosives used to increase access to Costa Concordia

Record ID: 359447

  • Title: ITALY: Explosives used to increase access to Costa Concordia
  • Date: 24th January 2012
  • Summary: GIGLIO, ITALY (JANUARY 23, 2012) (REUTERS) CAPSIZED SHIP, COSTA CONCORDIA, HALF-SUBMERGED IN WATER VARIOUS OF SEARCH OPERATION VESSELS MOVING PAST BOOM ALONGSIDE COSTA CONCORDIA AND APPROACHING SHIP SEARCH TEAM VESSELS MOVING AWAY FROM COSTA CONCORDIA CONTROLLED EXPLOSION AND SMOKE ON SIDE OF COSTA CONCORDIA ANOTHER EXPLOSION / SMOKE
  • Embargoed: 8th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Disasters
  • Reuters ID: LVADCSJS08DKV6W1UMB9XSSPSAWN
  • Story Text: Search teams continue to blast their way into inaccessible parts of the capsized Italian cruise liner.
    Search teams on Monday (January 23) morning carried out controlled explosions to facilitate entry into unexplored parts of the Costa Concordia cruise ship wrecked off the Tuscan coast.
    Divers recovered another body from the stricken liner on Sunday (January 22), bringing the known death toll to 13.
    Of the 13 bodies found, only eight have been identified - four French nationals, an Italian, a Hungarian, a German and a Spaniard.
    At least 20 people are still unaccounted for following the accident on Friday (January 13) night.
    Captain Francesco Schettino is accused of steering the 290 metre-long cruise ship too close to shore while performing a manoeuvre known as a "salute" in which liners draw up very close to land to make a display.
    Schettino, who is charged with multiple manslaughter and with abandoning ship before the evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew was complete, has told prosecutors he had been instructed to perform the manoeuvre by operator Costa Cruises.
    Prosecutors say he steered the massive ship within 150 metres of the Tuscan island of Giglio, where it struck a rock that tore a large gash in its hull, letting water flood in and causing the 114,500-tonne ship to capsize.
    It is now lying on its side on an undersea ledge, half-submerged and posing a growing environmental threat with the risk that it could slide into deeper waters.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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