Costa Concordia: Tragedy A 'Wake Up' Call As Letters Suggest Ship Sailed Close To Island Before
31/01/2012
Experience from the Marchioness, Zeebrugge and Al Dana disasters must be learned from.
Cruise law experts say the Costa Concordia tragedy is a wake-up call for the industry which must be heeded and have urged regulators to tighten controls on cruise lines to improve safety.
The call from experts at law firm Irwin Mitchell came as news emerged of correspondence from the Mayor of the Italian island where the cruise liner crashed into rocks, thanking one of the Concordia’s Captains for passing close by the island.
As inquiries continue into the weekend’s tragedy, one fundamental question is why the ship sailed so close to the shore of Giglio, the letters dated August 2011 and published in the Italian newspaper La Stampa reveal that islanders had been treated to a ‘wonderful occasion’ and that the Captain of the Concordia at that time – Captain Massimo Calisto Garbarino: not Francesco Schettino who was in command when the liner crashed – hoped the sail past would become an ‘unmissable tradition’. A tradition that it appears Captain Schettino continued with disastrous consequences.
This news has been greeted with disbelief by expert lawyers at Irwin Mitchell, who said the correspondence casts grave doubts on whether the safety of passengers was adequately considered by the cruise line and its crew.
Clive Garner, Partner and Head of the firm’s International Law Team, and José María de Lorenzo, Managing Partner of Irwin Mitchell Abogados said: ‘The investigation will rightly focus on why a cruise liner of this size, one of the largest on the seas, was so close to shore and, while we must wait for the results of that investigation, it is a matter of significant concern that the letters seem to indicate that the Concordia may have taken the same or a very similar route on prior occasions. We all now know the tragic consequences of Friday’s decision.”
‘With thousands of passengers and crew on board this huge vessel, their safety should have been the first and only priority. Tragically, it seems that this was not the case and passengers and their families have paid a very heavy price.’
They added: ‘This has to be a wake-up call to the cruise industry as a whole. Sailing close to the island may have been spectacular for those on shore but it clearly put lives in danger. Regulations including those of the IMO (International Maritime Organisation) need to be tightened and monitoring of compliance and good practice needs to be urgently improved. We welcome the recent comments made by Koji Sekimuzu, secretary General of the IMO.
Sekimuzu is reported to have said, “We should seriously consider the lessons to be learnt and, if necessary, re-examine the regulations on the safety of large passenger ships.” But we would go further and call for the regulations and monitoring to be improved. Every week we are asked to help passengers who have been injured on cruise liners due to the negligence of cruise line operators and more needs to be done to protect the public.”
Irwin Mitchell has acted for the victims and families of those killed in the Herald of Free Enterprise (Zeebrugge) disaster which left 193 passengers and crew dead, the Marchioness disaster which caused the death of more than 50 passengers and the 2006 capsize of the Al Dana Dhow off the coast of Bahrain which left nearly 60 passengers and crew dead.
“All of these disasters could and should have been avoided. As well as financial settlements for the victims, the investigations into each of these tragedies lead to calls for better regulation and important safety improvements for the design and management of vessels have been made as a result. But rather than reacting after an accident has occurred we want the regulators including the IMO to be more proactive in improving safety to avoid deaths and serious injuries rather than merely learning lessons after disasters like these have occurred. “
‘The fact is that the regulations are struggling to keep up with the dramatic increase in size of ships which now carry more people than a small town every week and there has to be an urgent review to reassure all cruise passengers for the future that cruise travel can and will remain a safe way to holiday.”
Clive Garner and José María de Lorenzo continued: “There is a long list of unanswered questions about the causes of the Costa Concordia disaster. The selection of the ship’s route and the actions taken by the Captain and crew once the ship was in a position of danger are clearly at the top of the list, But a modern cruise liner of this size should have been fitted with radar, sonar and state-of-the-art navigation systems with the most up-to-date charts and yet it managed to run into rocks and capsize. The possibility of equipment failure and possible legal liability on the part of the equipments manufacturers cannot be ruled out.
Furthermore, the recent incident in February 2010 in which the Concordia's sister ship, the Costa Europa, collided with the quayside in Sharm El Sheikh killing three members of crew and injuring several passengers also raised questions. Both ships are part of the Costa Cruiseline which is part of the giant Carnival Corporation.
They added, “Further questions will also need to be asked about the Cruise line's recent safety record, including the adequacy of its safety procedures and its training of crew to deal with onboard emergencies."
The role of the Costa Concordia’s Classification Society, RINA SpA which had an important role in the oversight of safety issues on board the Costa Concordia may also come under scrutiny. Rina SpA is based in Genoa and Garner and his team are working with Italian colleagues in the Costa Concordia case who are also pursuing legal proceedings against Rina SpA in the Italian courts following the tragedy of the Al Salam Boccaccio ferry which sunk off the coast of Egypt on 3 February 2006 with the loss of more than 1000 passengers.
Irwin Mitchell is acting for a growing number of clients from Spain, UK, Yugoslavia, Italy, Australia and a number of other countries. We are also working with lawyers in other countries to co-ordinate legal actions including Italy and the USA.
Irwin Mitchell Abogados has vast experience in International Maritime Law. For more information please contact José María de Lorenzon josemaria.delorenzo@irwinmitchell.es or Ana Romero ana.romero@irwinmitchell.es or call us on 952 209 860.
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