Italian Cruise Ship Crashes, Causing Deaths, Injuries And Mass Evacuation

A disastrous Italian cruise crash Friday night killed at least five passengers and injured at least 20 more. As of Sunday night, two of the 120 Americans onboard had yet to be located after more than 4,000 were evacuated. The Costa Concordia suffered a hull breach and is 50 percent submerged. Rescuers are still searching for missing people.

CNN relayed a statement from Costa Cruises, which is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation:

“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.”

The ship’s captain was arrested on suspicion of several crimes, including manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before passengers had evacuated.

Carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members, the ship was sailing from Rome on a Mediterranean cruise when it started taking on water. The crew ill-advisedly stayed the course, but ran aground after the commander tried to make it toward a port in the Italian city o Giglio. The ship never sent out a distress signal.

Cruise ship captain may have made ‘significant’ error, company says [CNN]

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