In this photo released by the Guardia di Finanza (Border Police), the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leans on its side after running aground off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012.

February 27, 2012 Update – On February 22, 8 more bodies were found, raising the confirmed death toll to 25.

January 31, 2012 Update – Italian authorities today ended the underwater search for missing passengers aboard the partially-submerged wreck of the Costa Concordia, citing concerns for the safety of divers as the ship’s condition deteriorates. 16 passengers and crew are listed as missing and are  now presumed dead, including two U.S. citizens, Jerry and Barbara Heil of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

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[Updated 1/27/2012] Sometimes the omens align – 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, and the 13th of January fell on a Friday. Perhaps the cruise industry should have kept all its ships in port that day, because the Costa Concordia, a cruise ship with 4,234 passengers and crew aboard, collided with a rock off the Italian coast, rending a 165-ft. (50 m.) breech in her side below the waterline, eerily resembling the damage done to the Titanic all those years ago, though the Concordia’s gash was approximately half the length of Titanic’s. When the movie is made (and somehow, we can be sure that it will be), these portents will undoubtedly be dismissed by a confident ship’s officer in the film’s opening minutes.

The Concordia, an Italian cruise ship with 4,234 passengers and crew aboard, collided with a submerged rock at 9:58 pm Central European Time (3:58 pm Eastern) on Friday, January 13, according to the ship’s “black box.” Initially, two passengers and a crew member were reported to have drowned after jumping into 59°F (15° C) water, about 650 ft. (200 m.) from the shore of a small, Italian island. The death toll currently stands at 17, 16 of whom have been identified. 64 have been reported injured, and 16 are now considered missing and presumed dead. On January 31, Italian officials ended underwater search operations. Search efforts by divers had been temporarily suspended several times, after the ship moved, and the safety of rescue divers became a concern due to ongoing deterioration of the ship’s hull. The ship is resting on a shallow ledge just off-shore, and the Italian authorities fear the ship may slip off the ledge entirely and settle in much deeper water. Salvage operations are underway to remove fuel oil from the ship, a process that may take several more weeks. The waters off Giglio are a protected marine sanctuary, so the possibility of fuel leakage from the wreck or during the removal process is a special concern.

The collision occurred just off the eastern shore of Giglio, a 5 mile-long (8 km.) island 45 miles (72 km.) northwest of Civitavecchia, the port of the City of Rome. Within an hour, passengers and crew were ordered to evacuate the vessel, which by then was listing (leaning) 20° to starboard. The list complicated the deployment of lifeboats, a process passengers report as being disorganized. Within hours, the Concordia had heeled 80°, almost completely on her side, exposing 165 ft. (50 m.) of crumpled and torn steel near the ship’s stern. A large rock is embedded at the aft end of the damaged area.

Mount Vesuvius from the Port of Naples, bathed in the warm, late afternoon sun. Photo copyright by Dave Marx

The Concordia’s captain, Francesco Schettino, claimed that the rock was not marked on nautical charts, but that does not explain why the cruise ship was so close to shore, especially after dark, and why no distress message was sent. Schettino and his first officer have been arrested by Italian authorities for manslaughter and abandoning ship. Evidence against the captain grows. The Tuesday after the sinking, a voice recording was released, purported to be a conversation between the captain and a Coast Guard official. In it, the Coast Guard officer ordered the captain to return to his vessel as there were still passengers to be evacuated, and the captain responded that he was coordinating activities from a life boat.  This supports an earlier statement by an Italian prosecutor investigating the collision. New allegations of impropriety by the captain emerge almost daily, with the latest claiming the captain was entertaining guests on the ship’s bridge at the time of the collision.

On January 15, Costa Cruise Lines issued an official statement, pointing to actions by the ship’s captain as the possible cause, “…preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship’s Master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences. The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the Captain’s judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures.” In statements at a press conference, a cruise line spokesman indicated that the captain deviated from the standard course pre-programmed into the ship’s navigation computers.

The Concordia had departed Civitavecchia just hours earlier, bound for the Northern Italian port of Savona. The ship follows a 7-night itinerary that visits Savona, Marseilles, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari, Palermo, and Civitavecchia, taking on new passengers in four of those ports. According to reports, a safety drill had not taken place after taking on passengers in Civitavecchia, but was scheduled for the following day (presumably prior to departure from Savona).

Costa Concordia, photo copyright by John Haslam and shared under the Creative Commons license

Costa Cruise Lines is a 15-ship division of Carnival Corp., the cruise industry giant that operates 10 cruise lines and 100 ships. The Concordia was built by Fincantieri Shipyards, near Genoa, and entered service in July 2006. She’s 952 ft. (290 m.) long, 116 ft. (35 m.) wide, and weighs 114,500 gross register tons. This makes her larger than the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder but smaller than the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy, though she has 250 more staterooms than the larger Disney ships. She can carry up to 3,700 passengers and 1,100 crew.

Based on the mounting evidence, it’s hard not to come to conclusions about this incident, though the full story may not be known for many months. It’s certainly a reminder that, as safe as modern cruising is, travel is never risk-free.

You’ll find a number of images of the cruise ship disaster at http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/Cruise+ship+runs+aground+off+of+Italy/G3214