Costa Concordia
The incident
On the evening of Friday 13 January 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia, having left Civitavecchia near Rome a few hours earlier for a Mediterranean cruise, suddenly struck a rock near the island of Giglio.
Over 4,000 people of 60 nationalities, including around 1,000 crew members, were onboard the liner. The vessel rolled onto its starboard side, around 50 m from the shore. Seawater gushed in through a gaping breach in the hull. Within a few minutes, the Costa Concordia was listing heavily. Panic set in onboard. This sudden list made evacuation particularly difficult.
Several thousand people were evacuated. By the end of the weekend 6 people had been confirmed dead, thirty-odd reported missing and forty-odd were injured. Over the following days, the Costa Concordia continued to be explored to attempt to find the missing persons. Micro-charges were set to open the ship’s watertight doors. These operations had to be temporarily suspended at times due to severe weather conditions.
Rescue operations came to a close on 27 January. In total, 17 people were confirmed dead and 15 missing. The Italian authorities continued the search for bodies to return them to their families.
No significant pollution has been observed around the wreck.
Wreck of the Costa Concordia. © Ministero dell'ambiente
Pollution risk
The island of Giglio is part of an archipelago of 7 islands located in a protected nature reserve. It is a very popular tourist area, renowned for its small rocky creeks. The area around the island, in addition to being home to fish and seabirds, is a whale sanctuary.
“The environmental risk due to the sinking of the Costa Concordia is very high and response is urgent” stated the Italian Environment Minister on Monday 16 January.
The aim was to prevent the fuel from escaping from the ship. Its tanks contained around 2,400 tonnes of highly viscous heavy fuel oil, similar to that of the Erika.
A team was on site to attempt to improve the ship's safety and prevent any pollution.
The cruise ship had a double hull which, in the given circumstances, limited the risk of a major oil spill.
The shipowner contracted the Dutch company SMIT to pump out the fuel oil. In the temperature conditions prevailing in the area, the fuel had to be heated in order to be pumped out. Pumping operations were are expected to take several weeks.
The Coast Guard spokesperson stated that sorbent booms had been deployed around the wreck to stop any pollution from spreading if the fuel oil were to be released into the sea.
On Tuesday 17 January, France offered the Italian authorities its assistance by proposing to send pollution response equipment and a team of experts from Cedre.
On the 18th, the French maritime authorities sent response equipment and the specialised oil spill response vessel Jason on site as a precaution.
In order to prepare for a possible spill of pollutant at sea, Cedre and Météo France launched fuel oil drift simulations using the slick drift model MOTHY. This data was intended to help define the response strategy to be implemented in the event of a leak.
Managing the wreck
In the days following the accident, the priority was to stabilise the ship on the rocks on which it was resting. It was at risk of sliding off the rocks and sinking further, into nearby waters 100 metres deep.
Several solutions have been put forward to remove the wreck of the liner from its delicate position.
The first involved patching up the hull of the ship using large metal plates to enable it to be towed to a port to be dismantled.
Another suggestion involved surrounding the wreck with buoys to give it buoyancy.
The most probable option is to dismantle the ship on site. Before cutting up the hull, the inside of the liner needs to be emptied, which means removing its 1,500 cabins, theatre, cinema and 13 bars, as well as the oil and many chemicals it was carrying.
By way of comparison, the far more simple treatment of the wreck of the Maltese-registered cargo ship TK Bremen, which grounded mid-December 2011 in France, required the mobilisation of four specialised companies for asbestos removal, defueling, general ship cleaning and environmental conservation operations.
The handling of the wreck of the Costa Concordia is set to be a complicated operation and is likely to last several months.
Name: Costa Concordia
Date: 13/01/12
Location: Italy
Accident area: island of Giglio, south of Tuscany, Italy
Cause of spill: grounding
Quantity transported: 2,400 tonnes (bunker fuel)
Type of potential pollutants: heavy fuel oil
Ship type: cruise ship
Date built: 2006
Length: 290 m
Draught: 8.2 m
Flag: Italian
Shipowner: Costa Crociere (Italy)
Legal action
The first elements of the enquiry and the different witness accounts cast the blame on the captain Francesco Schettino. He was imprisoned the day after the accident, accused of multiple manslaughter, causing shipwrecking by sailing too close to the coast and abandoning ship.
On 18 January, the captain was released from prison and returned home following a decision placing him under house arrest. Charges are also pending against the second officer.
Wreck of the Costa Concordia. © Ministero dell'ambiente
Links
Last update: 22/02/12