Human error to blame for cruise ship capsizing, ship’s owner says
Posted Jan 16, 2012 07:08:45 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The rescue operation on the Costa Concordia has been suspended for the moment, because the capsized cruise ship is shifting and too dangerous for work to continue.
Six people are dead and 16 still unaccounted for.
Divers and rescuers have been working around the clock since the ship hit the reef on Friday; however, CNN reported the ship is sliding further into the water and the weather is worsening.
The cruise ship was built in 2006 by Costa Cruises, which is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines.
The CEO of the company that owns the ship has publicly acknowledged human error on the part of the captain is the likely cause.
He said the cruise liner passed all safety and technical tests in its 2011 evaluation.
There are also reports the captain may have ventured too close to shore because he was showing off to tourists.
There are some reports the navigational gear was knocked out because of a power outage, but U.S. coast guard officer Aaron Vanhuysen doubts it.
“Cruise ships have a redundancy of back-up systems — they just don’t have one radar, they’ll have two or three radars. If they were to lose one of their generators, they have a back-up emergency generator,” Vanhuysen said.
Three people, a honeymooning South Korean couple and a member of the ship’s crew were rescued Sunday.
All 12 Canadian passengers survived.
