The Italian Cruise Liner that Sank...

Agreed. The company that owns the ship pretty much told the lawyers to start throwing the books at him. Which, I'm impressed. To say the least. Normally when something like this *coughBPcough* happens, they deny deny deny and then deny some more and say it wasn't his fault. But I don't think you can ignore the countless eye-witness accounts of him standing on shore while people were literally dying to get off.

Carnival has to keep their reputation up.

And I hope they'll rescue all those who are still missing.

It does make me a little sick to my stomach that it's a Carnival ship, but solidifies my choice to never take a cruise.

Evidently, there is audio from the blackbox with the Coast Guard telling him to get his ass off the shore and back on the boat---for an hour; I read the transcript and it doesn't seem legit to me, but I'm not really familiar with how a Coast Guard captain would try to reign in a cowardly captain and try to get him back on the boat so I could be wrong.

Anyway, if the transcript is accurate, this guy deserves to be drawn and quartered, in public, while everyone who was on that boat and the victims families get to watch. Or hmmm...maybe the Burning Bull would be a better choice or the starving rats placed in a cage and tied to his stomach until the claw their way through. (I studied medieval and ancient torture methods in school, I would never want to see anyone go through those methods or wish them on them in reality, but something major needs to be done here.)

I definitely agree.
I can see being scared or whatever, but you at least warn your passengers what happens before you just abandon ship.

I can see not exactly going down with your ship, but at least make sure that everyone on board is safe, and knows what's happening.

Well, accident like this one is really rare, I'm more worried about germ contamination than an accident on a cruise liner. Cruises ARE really enjoyable, you should give it try!

Sad. I actually haven't heard about this. I will soon I'm sure.

The Titanic was awful and I've done some reading about it and it really hits me pretty hard when reading or watching the movie even. It was such a devastating thing and just the thought of knowing you're about to go down like that and for some, having to leave their loved ones on the ship that's sinking... ugh. It's upsetting just to think about much less actually go through it. How awful. I'm not fond of ships. Only been on a ship once and it was nice, but I'd never go for a cruise or anything. Maybe I'm a paranoid kind of person though.

It's currently all over the news.

The captain is required by maritime law to stay on board regardless of what is happening until each and every person is off the ship. He didn't even wait for one person to get off the ship before he started heading for shore. The kicker? He was hired on with the cruise liner company as a safety officer and was given the ship several years later and then this happens.

I don't know what Italy's civil lawsuit system is like, but I hope like hell each and every single passenger who can still speak for themselves and the families for those who can't sue him until the cows come home. What a coward!

CNN has the lastest updates on the disaster. But, basically an Italian cruise liner, hit a reef off the coast of Italy and capsized. The captain took the boat too close to shore so "people could takes photos", though conflicting reports say that he was waving to people on shore when the accident occurred. 11 people are dead and up until recently 24 were missing. The captain jumped ship, leaving hundreds of people on board with no direction or system to get off the boat. The lifeboats weren't dropped and several dozen people were catapaulted into the water when the ship began to list.

You can read about it here: link

Boats are large metal objects floating on the water. 100 years ago, or 100 years from now, if someone punches a hole in one, it is going to sink. Period.

Safety features help far less people die now, and that is good. Will it save every person on board...each time?...no. Never. Not in 100 years or 1000 years. If you are at the point where the water splashes in, unless we develop gills in a few thousand years, we will drown. Sad, but so true.

It is tragic and in both cases, preventable. However, cruising, like flying, is safe, and far more so then driving to the port or airport. It is just that so long as there are people, nothing will be 100% infallible and things will happen.

Those who died were trapped on the part of the ship that flipped water side down.

Right...and then into a cab and away from the site....till the Italian Coast Guard reached him by phone and threatened him unless he returned to his ship!!!

Exactly. No one in this day and age is expected to "go down with the ship", but they sure as heck are not expected to abandon it full of people trying to escape the sinking either.