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10 years later, Costa Concordia survivors share their stories from doomed cruise ship

Ten years after the deadly Costa Concordia cruise line disaster in Italy, survivors still vividly remember scenes of chaos they say were like something straight out of the movie "Titanic."

NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella caught up with a group of survivors on TODAY Wednesday, a decade after they escaped a maritime disaster that claimed the lives of 32 people. The Italian cruise ship ran aground off the tiny Italian island of Giglio after striking an underground rock and capsizing.

"I think it’s the panic, the feeling of panic, is what’s carried through over 10 years," Ian Donoff, who was on the cruise with his wife Janice for their honeymoon, told Cobiella. "And it’s just as strong now."

More than 4,000 passengers and crew were on board when the ship crashed into rocks in the dark in the Mediterranean Sea, sending seawater rushing into the vessel as people scrambled for their lives.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, had been performing a sail-past salute of Giglio when he steered the ship too close to the island and hit the jagged reef, opening a 230-foot gash in the side of the cruise liner.

Passengers struggled to escape in the darkness, clambering to get to the life boats. Alaska resident Nate Lukes was with his wife, Cary, and their four daughters aboard the ship and remembers the chaos that ensued as the ship started to sink.

"There was really a melee there is the best way to describe it," he told Cobiella. "It's very similar to the movie 'Titanic.' People were jumping onto the top of the lifeboats and pushing down women and children to try to get to them."

The lifeboats wouldn't drop down because the ship was tilted on its side, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded on the side of the ship for hours in the cold. People were left to clamber down a rope ladder over a distance equivalent to 11 stories.

"Everybody was rushing for the lifeboats," Nate Lukes said. "I felt like (my daughters) were going to get trampled, and putting my arms around them and just holding them together and letting the sea of people go by us."

Schettino was convicted of multiple manslaughter as well as abandoning ship after leaving before all the passengers had reached safety. He is now serving a 16-year prison sentence .

It took nearly two years for the damaged ship to be raised from its side before it was towed away to be scrapped.

The calamity caused changes in the cruise industry like carrying more lifejackets and holding emergency drills before leaving port.

A decade after that harrowing night, the survivors are grateful to have made it out alive. None of the survivors who spoke with Cobiella have been on a cruise since that day.

"I said that if we survive this, then our marriage will have to survive forever," Ian Donoff said.

Scott Stump is a trending reporter and the writer of the daily newsletter This is TODAY (which you should subscribe to here! ) that brings the day's news, health tips, parenting stories, recipes and a daily delight right to your inbox. He has been a regular contributor for TODAY.com since 2011, producing features and news for pop culture, parents, politics, health, style, food and pretty much everything else. 

'We all suffer from PTSD': 10 years after the Costa Concordia cruise disaster, memories remain

GIGLIO, Italy — Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio. But for the passengers on board and the residents who welcomed them ashore, the memories of that harrowing, freezing night remain vividly etched into their minds.

The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull. The blackout after the ship's engine room flooded and its generators failed. The final mad scramble to evacuate the listing liner and then the extraordinary generosity of Giglio islanders who offered shoes, sweatshirts and shelter until the sun rose and passengers were ferried to the mainland.

Italy on Thursday is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration that will end with a candlelit vigil near the moment the ship hit the reef: 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2012. The events will honor the 32 people who died that night, the 4,200 survivors, but also the residents of Giglio, who took in passengers and crew and then lived with the Concordia's wrecked carcass off their shore for another two years until it was righted and hauled away for scrap.

► CDC travel guidance: CDC warns 'avoid cruise travel' after more than 5,000 COVID cases in two weeks amid omicron

“For us islanders, when we remember some event, we always refer to whether it was before or after the Concordia,” said Matteo Coppa, who was 23 and fishing on the jetty when the darkened Concordia listed toward shore and then collapsed onto its side in the water.

“I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after,” he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats.

The sad anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of COVID-19 outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month  warned people across-the-board not to go on cruises, regardless of their vaccination status, because of the risks of infection.

► 'We found out while we were flying': Last-minute cruise cancellations leave travelers scrambling

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'We all suffer from PTSD'

For Concordia survivor Georgia Ananias, the COVID-19 infections are just the latest evidence that passenger safety still isn’t a top priority for the cruise ship industry. Passengers aboard the Concordia were largely left on their own to find life jackets and a functioning lifeboat after the captain steered the ship close too shore in a stunt. He then delayed an evacuation order until it was too late, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was listing too heavily.

“I always said this will not define me, but you have no choice," Ananias said in an interview from her home in Los Angeles, Calif. “We all suffer from PTSD. We had a lot of guilt that we survived and 32 other people died.”

Prosecutors blamed the delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. The captain, Francesco Schettino, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all the passengers and crew had evacuated.

Ananias and her family declined Costa’s initial $14,500 compensation offered to each passenger and sued Costa, a unit of U.S.-based Carnival Corp., to try to cover the cost of their medical bills and therapy for the post-traumatic stress they have suffered. But after eight years in the U.S. and then Italian court system, they lost their case.

“I think people need to be aware that when you go on a cruise, that if there is a problem, you will not have the justice that you may be used to in the country in which you are living,” said Ananias, who went onto become a top official in the International Cruise Victims association, an advocacy group that lobbies to improve safety aboard ships and increase transparency and accountability in the industry.

Costa didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on the anniversary.

► Royal Caribbean cancels sailings: Pushes back restart on several ships over COVID

'We did something incredible'

Cruise Lines International Association, the world’s largest cruise industry trade association, stressed in a statement to The Associated Press that passenger and crew safety was the industry's top priority, and that cruising remains one of the safest vacation experiences available.

“Our thoughts continue to be with the victims of the Concordia tragedy and their families on this sad anniversary," CLIA said. It said it has worked over the past 10 years with the International Maritime Organization and the maritime industry to “drive a safety culture that is based on continuous improvement."

For Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli, the memories of that night run the gamut: the horror of seeing the capsized ship, the scramble to coordinate rescue services on shore, the recovery of the first bodies and then the pride that islanders rose to the occasion to tend to the survivors.

► Cruising during COVID-19: Cancellation, refund policies vary by cruise line

Ortelli was later on hand when, in September 2013, the 115,000-ton, 1,000-foot long cruise ship was righted vertical off its seabed graveyard in an extraordinary feat of engineering. But the night of the disaster, a Friday the 13th, remains seared in his memory.

“It was a night that, in addition to being a tragedy, had a beautiful side because the response of the people was a spontaneous gesture that was appreciated around the world,” Ortelli said.

It seemed the natural thing to do at the time. “But then we realized that on that night, in just a few hours, we did something incredible.”

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How the Wreck of a Cruise Liner Changed an Italian Island

Ten years ago the Costa Concordia ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio, killing 32 people and entwining the lives of others forever.

By Gaia Pianigiani

GIGLIO PORTO, Italy — The curvy granite rocks of the Tuscan island of Giglio lay bare in the winter sun, no longer hidden by the ominous, stricken cruise liner that ran aground in the turquoise waters of this marine sanctuary ten years ago.

Few of the 500-odd residents of the fishermen’s village will ever forget the freezing night of Jan. 13, 2012, when the Costa Concordia shipwrecked, killing 32 people and upending life on the island for years.

“Every one of us here has a tragic memory from then,” said Mario Pellegrini, 59, who was deputy mayor in 2012 and was the first civilian to climb onto the cruise ship after it struck the rocks near the lighthouses at the port entrance.

The hospitality of the tight-knit community of islanders kicked in, at first to give basic assistance to the 4,229 passengers and crew members who had to be evacuated from a listing vessel as high as a skyscraper. In no time, Giglio residents hosted thousands of journalists, law enforcement officers and rescue experts who descended on the port. In the months to come, salvage teams set up camp in the picturesque harbor to work on safely removing the ship, an operation that took more than two years to complete.

The people of Giglio felt like a family for those who spent long days at its port, waiting to receive word of their loved ones whose bodies remained trapped on the ship. On Thursday, 10 years to the day of the tragedy, the victims’ families, some passengers and Italian authorities attended a remembrance Mass and threw a crown of flowers onto the waters where the Costa Concordia had rested. At 9:45 p.m., the time when the ship ran aground, a candlelit procession illuminated the port’s quay while church bells rang and ship sirens blared.

What stands out now for many is how the wreck forever changed the lives of some of those whose paths crossed as a result. Friendships were made, business relations took shape and new families were even formed.

“It feels as if, since that tragic night, the lives of all the people involved were forever connected by an invisible thread,” Luana Gervasi, the niece of one of the shipwreck victims, said at the Mass on Thursday, her voice breaking.

Francesco Dietrich, 48, from the eastern city of Ancona, arrived on the island in February 2013 to work with the wreck divers, “a dream job,” he said, adding: “It was like offering someone who plays soccer for the parish team to join the Champions League with all the top teams in the business.”

For his work, Mr. Dietrich had to buy a lot of boat-repair supplies from the only hardware store in town. It was owned by a local family, and Mr. Dietrich now has a 6-year-old son, Pietro, with the family’s daughter.

“It was such a shock for us,” said Bruna Danei, 42, who until 2018 worked as a secretary for the consortium that salvaged the wreck. “The work on the Costa Concordia was a life-changing experience for me in many ways.”

A rendering of the Costa Concordia used by salvage teams to plan its recovery hung on the wall of the living room where her 22-month-old daughter, Arianna, played.

“She wouldn’t be here if Davide hadn’t come to work on the site,” Ms. Danei said, referring to Davide Cedioli, 52, an experienced diver from Turin who came to the island in May 2012 to help right the Costa Concordia — and who is also Arianna’s father.

From a barge, Mr. Cedioli monitored the unprecedented salvage operation that, in less than a day, was able to rotate the 951-foot vessel, partly smashed against the rocks, from the sea bottom to an upright position without further endangering the underwater ecosystem that it damaged when it ran aground.

“We jumped up and down in happiness when the parbuckling was completed,” Mr. Cedioli remembered. “We felt we were bringing some justice to this story. And I loved this small community and living on the island.”

The local council voted to make Jan. 13 a day of remembrance on Giglio, but after this year it will stop the public commemorations and “make it a more intimate moment, without the media,” Mr. Ortelli said during the mass.

“Being here ten years later brings back a lot of emotions,” said Kevin Rebello, 47, whose older brother, Russell, was a waiter on the Costa Concordia.

Russell Rebello’s remains were finally retrieved three years after the shipwreck, from under the furniture in a cabin, once the vessel was upright and being taken apart in Genoa.

“First, I feel close to my brother here,” Kevin Rebello said. “But it is also some sort of family reunion for me — I couldn’t wait to see the Giglio people.”

Mr. Rebello hugged and greeted residents on the streets of the port area, and recalled how the people there had shown affection for him at the time, buying him coffee and simply showing respect for his grief.

“Other victims’ families feel differently, but I am a Catholic and I have forgiven,” Mr. Rebello explained.

The Costa Concordia accident caused national shame when it became clear that the liner’s commander, Francesco Schettino, failed to immediately sound the general alarm and coordinate the evacuation, and instead abandoned the sinking vessel.

“Get back on board!” a Coast Guard officer shouted at Mr. Schettino when he understood that the captain was in a lifeboat watching people scramble to escape, audio recordings of their exchange later revealed. “Go up on the bow of the ship on a rope ladder, and tell me what you can do, how many people are there and what they need. Now!”

The officer has since pursued a successful career in politics, while Mr. Schettino is serving a 16-year sentence in a Roman prison for homicide and for abandoning the ship before the evacuation was completed. Other officials and crew members plea-bargained for lesser sentences.

During the trial, Mr. Schettino admitted that he had committed an “imprudence” when he decided to sail near the island of Giglio at high speed to greet the family of the ship’s headwaiter. The impact with the half-submerged rock near the island produced a gash in the hull more than 70 meters long, or about 76 yards, leading to blackouts on board and water pouring into the lower decks.

Mr. Schettino tried to steer the cruise ship toward the port to make evacuation easier, but the vessel was out of control and began to tip as it neared the harbor, making many lifeboats useless.

“I can’t forget the eyes of children, scared to death, and of their parents,” said Mr. Pellegrini, who had boarded the ship to speak with officials and organize the evacuation. “The metallic sound of the enormous ship tipping over and the gurgling of the sea up the endless corridors of the cruiser.”

Sergio Ortelli, who is still the mayor of Giglio ten years later, was similarly moved. “Nobody can go back and cancel those senseless deaths of innocent people, or the grief of their families,” he said. “The tragedy will always stay with us as a community. It was an apocalypse for us.”

Yet Mr. Ortelli said that the accident also told a different story, that of the skilled rescuers who managed to save thousands of lives, and of the engineers who righted the liner, refloated it and took it to the scrapyard.

While the global attention shifted away from Giglio, residents have stayed in touch with the outside world through the people who temporarily lived there.

For months, the Rev. Lorenzo Pasquotti, who was then a pastor in Giglio, kept receiving packages: dry-cleaned slippers, sweaters and tablecloths that were given to the cold, stranded passengers in his church that night, returned via courier.

One summer, Father Pasquotti ate German cookies with a German couple who were passengers on the ship. They still remembered the hot tea and leftovers from Christmas delicacies that they were given that night.

“So many nationalities — the world was at our door all of a sudden,” he said, remembering that night. “And we naturally opened it.”

Gaia Pianigiani is a reporter based in Italy for The New York Times.  More about Gaia Pianigiani

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The Costa Concordia Disaster: How Human Error Made It Worse

By: Becky Little

Updated: August 10, 2023 | Original: June 23, 2021

Many famous naval disasters happen far out at sea, but on January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia wrecked just off the coast of an Italian island in relatively shallow water. The avoidable disaster killed 32 people and seriously injured many others, and left investigators wondering: Why was the luxury cruise ship sailing so close to the shore in the first place?

During the ensuing trial, prosecutors came up with a tabloid-ready explanation : The married ship captain had sailed it so close to the island to impress a much younger Moldovan dancer with whom he was having an affair.

Whether or not Captain Francesco Schettino was trying to impress his girlfriend is debatable. (Schettino insisted the ship sailed close to shore to salute other mariners and give passengers a good view.) But whatever the reason for getting too close, the Italian courts found the captain, four crew members and one official from the ship’s company, Costa Crociere (part of Carnival Corporation), to be at fault for causing the disaster and preventing a safe evacuation. The wreck was not the fault of unexpected weather or ship malfunction—it was a disaster caused entirely by a series of human errors.

“At any time when you have an incident similar to Concordia, there is never…a single causal factor,” says Brad Schoenwald, a senior marine inspector at the United States Coast Guard. “It is generally a sequence of events, things that line up in a bad way that ultimately create that incident.”

Wrecking Near the Shore

The Concordia was supposed to take passengers on a seven-day Italian cruise from Civitavecchia to Savona. But when it deviated from its planned path to sail closer to the island of Giglio, the ship struck a reef known as the Scole Rocks. The impact damaged the ship, allowing water to seep in and putting the 4,229 people on board in danger.

Sailing close to shore to give passengers a nice view or salute other sailors is known as a “sail-by,” and it’s unclear how often cruise ships perform these maneuvers. Some consider them to be dangerous deviations from planned routes. In its investigative report on the 2012 disaster, Italy’s Ministry of Infrastructures and Transports found that the Concordia “was sailing too close to the coastline, in a poorly lit shore area…at an unsafe distance at night time and at high speed (15.5 kts).”

In his trial, Captain Schettino blamed the shipwreck on Helmsman Jacob Rusli Bin, who he claimed reacted incorrectly to his order; and argued that if the helmsman had reacted correctly and quickly, the ship wouldn’t have wrecked. However, an Italian naval admiral testified in court that even though the helmsman was late in executing the captain’s orders, “the crash would’ve happened anyway.” (The helmsman was one of the four crew members convicted in court for contributing to the disaster.)

A Questionable Evacuation

Evidence introduced in Schettino’s trial suggests that the safety of his passengers and crew wasn’t his number one priority as he assessed the damage to the Concordia. The impact and water leakage caused an electrical blackout on the ship, and a recorded phone call with Costa Crociere’s crisis coordinator, Roberto Ferrarini, shows he tried to downplay and cover up his actions by saying the blackout was what actually caused the accident.

“I have made a mess and practically the whole ship is flooding,” Schettino told Ferrarini while the ship was sinking. “What should I say to the media?… To the port authorities I have said that we had…a blackout.” (Ferrarini was later convicted for contributing to the disaster by delaying rescue operations.)

Schettino also didn’t immediately alert the Italian Search and Rescue Authority about the accident. The impact on the Scole Rocks occurred at about 9:45 p.m. local time, and the first person to contact rescue officials about the ship was someone on the shore, according to the investigative report. Search and Rescue contacted the ship a few minutes after 10:00 p.m., but Schettino didn’t tell them what had happened for about 20 more minutes.

A little more than an hour after impact, the crew began to evacuate the ship. But the report noted that some passengers testified that they didn’t hear the alarm to proceed to the lifeboats. Evacuation was made even more chaotic by the ship listing so far to starboard, making walking inside very difficult and lowering the lifeboats on one side, near to impossible. Making things worse, the crew had dropped the anchor incorrectly, causing the ship to flop over even more dramatically.

Through the confusion, the captain somehow made it into a lifeboat before everyone else had made it off. A coast guard member angrily told him on the phone to “Get back on board, damn it!” —a recorded sound bite that turned into a T-shirt slogan in Italy.

Schettino argued that he fell into a lifeboat because of how the ship was listing to one side, but this argument proved unconvincing. In 2015, a court found Schettino guilty of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship before passengers and crew were evacuated and lying to authorities about the disaster. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. In addition to Schettino, Ferrarini and Rusli Bin, the other people who received convictions for their role in the disaster were Cabin Service Director Manrico Giampedroni, First Officer Ciro Ambrosio and Third Officer Silvia Coronica.

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10 years later, Costa Concordia disaster is still vivid for survivors

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Ten years have passed since the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio . But for the passengers on board and the residents who welcomed them ashore, the memories of that harrowing, freezing night remain vividly etched into their minds.

The dinner plates that flew off the tables when the rocks first gashed the hull. The blackout after the ship’s engine room flooded and its generators failed. The final mad scramble to evacuate the listing liner and then the extraordinary generosity of Giglio islanders who offered shoes, sweatshirts and shelter until the sun rose and passengers were ferried to the mainland.

Italy on Thursday is marking the 10th anniversary of the Concordia disaster with a daylong commemoration that will end with a candlelit vigil near the moment the ship hit the reef: 9:45 p.m. on Jan. 13, 2012. The events will honor the 32 people who died that night, the 4,200 survivors, but also the residents of Giglio, who took in passengers and crew and then lived with the Concordia’s wrecked carcass off their shore for another two years until it was righted and hauled away for scrap.

“For us islanders, when we remember some event, we always refer to whether it was before or after the Concordia,” said Matteo Coppa, who was 23 and fishing on the jetty when the darkened Concordia listed toward shore and then collapsed onto its side in the water.

“I imagine it like a nail stuck to the wall that marks that date, as a before and after,” he said, recounting how he joined the rescue effort that night, helping pull ashore the dazed, injured and freezing passengers from lifeboats.

The sad anniversary comes as the cruise industry, shut down in much of the world for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, is once again in the spotlight because of COVID-19 outbreaks that threaten passenger safety. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month warned people across-the-board not to go on cruises , regardless of their vaccination status, because of the risks of infection.

A dozen passengers on cruise ship test positive for coronavirus

The passengers, whose infections were found through random testing, were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, according to the Port of San Francisco.

Jan. 7, 2022

For Concordia survivor Georgia Ananias, the COVID-19 infections are just the latest evidence that passenger safety still isn’t a top priority for the cruise ship industry. Passengers aboard the Concordia were largely left on their own to find life jackets and a functioning lifeboat after the captain steered the ship close too shore in a stunt. He then delayed an evacuation order until it was too late, with lifeboats unable to lower because the ship was listing too heavily.

“I always said this will not define me, but you have no choice,” Ananias said in an interview from her home in Los Angeles. “We all suffer from PTSD. We had a lot of guilt that we survived and 32 other people died.”

Prosecutors blamed the delayed evacuation order and conflicting instructions given by crew for the chaos that ensued as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. The captain, Francesco Schettino, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all the passengers and crew had evacuated.

Ananias and her family declined Costa’s initial $14,500 compensation offered to each passenger and sued Costa, a unit of U.S.-based Carnival Corp., to try to cover the cost of their medical bills and therapy for the post-traumatic stress they have suffered. But after eight years in the U.S. and then Italian court system, they lost their case.

“I think people need to be aware that when you go on a cruise, that if there is a problem, you will not have the justice that you may be used to in the country in which you are living,” said Ananias, who went onto become a top official in the International Cruise Victims association, an advocacy group that lobbies to improve safety aboard ships and increase transparency and accountability in the industry.

Costa didn’t respond to emails seeking comment on the anniversary.

Cruise Lines International Assn., the world’s largest cruise industry trade association, stressed in a statement to the Associated Press that passenger and crew safety were the industry’s top priority, and that cruising remains one of the safest vacation experiences available.

“Our thoughts continue to be with the victims of the Concordia tragedy and their families on this sad anniversary,” CLIA said. It said it has worked over the past 10 years with the International Maritime Organization and the maritime industry to “drive a safety culture that is based on continuous improvement.”

For Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli, the memories of that night run the gamut: the horror of seeing the capsized ship, the scramble to coordinate rescue services on shore, the recovery of the first bodies and then the pride that islanders rose to the occasion to tend to the survivors.

Ortelli was later on hand when, in September 2013, the 115,000-ton, 1,000-foot long cruise ship was righted vertical off its seabed graveyard in an extraordinary feat of engineering. But the night of the disaster, a Friday the 13th, remains seared in his memory.

“It was a night that, in addition to being a tragedy, had a beautiful side because the response of the people was a spontaneous gesture that was appreciated around the world,” Ortelli said.

It seemed the natural thing to do at the time. “But then we realized that on that night, in just a few hours, we did something incredible.”

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The Wreck of the Costa Concordia

• Alan Taylor
• January 16, 2012

On the night of Friday, January 13, the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, with more than 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members on board, struck a reef, keeled over, and partially sank off Isola del Giglio, Italy. Six people are now confirmed dead, including two French passengers and one Peruvian crew member, apparently after jumping into the chilly Mediterranean waters after the wreck. Fourteen more people still remain missing, as search and rescue teams continue their efforts to find survivors. The incident occurred only hours into the cruise, and passengers had not yet undergone any lifeboat drills -- that plus the severe list of the ship made evacuation chaotic and frightening. Captain Francesco Schettino has been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. Gathered here are images of the Costa Concordia, as efforts are still underway to find the fourteen passengers that remain missing.

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View of the Costa Concordia taken on January 14, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground and keeled over off the Isola del Giglio. Five passengers drowned and about 15 still remain missing after the Italian ship with some 4,200 people on board ran aground. The Costa Concordia was on a trip around the Mediterranean when it apparently hit a reef near the island of Giglio on Friday, only a few hours into its voyage, as passengers were sitting down for dinner. #

This photo acquired by the Associated Press from a passenger of the luxury ship that ran aground off the coast of Tuscany shows fellow passengers wearing life-vests on board the Costa Concordia as they wait to be evacuated, on Saturday, January 14, 2012. #

The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leans after it ran aground off the coast of the Isola del Giglio island, Italy, early Saturday, January 14, 2012. #

Passengers of the Costa Concordia arrive at Porto Santo Stefano on January 14, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground and keeled over the night before. Some of the passengers jumped into the icy waters. The ship was on a cruise in the Mediterranean, leaving from Savona with planned stops in Civitavecchia, Palermo, Cagliari, Palma, Barcelona and Marseille," the company said. #

A survivor of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, arrives at the harbor, in Marseille, southern France, on January 14, 2012. #

The Costa Concordia, off the west coast of Italy at Giglio island, on January 14, 2012. #

The Costa Concordia leans on its side after running aground, on January 14, 2012. #

Gashes in the hull of the Costa Concordia, off the west coast of Italy, on January 14, 2012. #

Firefighters on a dinghy examine a large rock emerging from the side of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, the day after it ran aground on Sunday, January 15, 2012. #

The Costa Concordia, surrounded by smaller boats, on Saturday, January 14, 2012, after running aground. #

An evening view of the Costa Concordia, on January 15, 2012 in the harbor of the Tuscan island of Giglio. #

A rescue boat points a light at the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leaning on its side on January 14, 2012. #

Italian firefighters climb on the Costa Concordia on January 14, 2012. #

Firemen inspect the Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012. #

Rescuers check the sea near the Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground the night before. #

People look at the deck chairs piled on the deck of the leaning Costa Concordia, on January 15, 2012, after the cruise ship ran aground on January 13. #

Partially submerged cabins of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, photographed on January 14, 2012. #

An Italian firefighter helicopter lifts a passenger from the cruise ship Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012. Firefighters worked Sunday to rescue the crew member with a suspected broken leg from the overturned hulk of the luxury cruise liner, 36 hours after it ran aground. #

Divers inspect the Costa Concordia on January 15, 2012. #

Italian Coast guard personnel pass on the black box of the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia, on January 14, 2012. #

Costa Concordia cruise liner captain Francesco Schettino (right) is escorted by a Carabinieri in Grosseto, Italy, on January 14, 2012. Schettino, the captain of the Italian cruise liner that ran aground off Italy's west coast, was arrested on the charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, police said. #

In this underwater photo taken on January 13 and released by the Italian Coast Guard on January 16, 2012, a view of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, after it ran aground near the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy. #

A breach is seen on the body of the cruise ship Costa Concordia in this underwater photo released by the Italian Coast Guard on January 16, 2012. #

An Italian Coast guard diver inspects the wreckage of the Costa Concordia on January 16, 2012. Over-reliance on electronic navigation systems and a failure of judgement by the captain are seen as possible reasons for one of the worst cruise liner disasters of all time, maritime specialists say. #

An Italian Coast guard diver inspects inside the Costa Concordia cruise ship on January 16, 2012. #

An Italian Coast guard diver swims through debris inside the partially-submerged Costa Concordia, on January 16, 2012. Rescuers resumed a search of the hulk of a giant cruise liner off the west coast of Italy on Monday after bad weather forced them to halt operations, but hopes were fading of finding more survivors. #

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Mediterranean Cruise Accident Roils Wave Season

The Costa Concordia suffered the industry’s worst accident in recent years when the it crashed off the coast of Italy

Updated October 2, 2014

Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.

The Costa Concordia, a 114,500-ton cruise ship sailing the Mediterranean, suffered the cruise industry’s worst accident in recent years when the vessel crashed into rocks near the small island of Giglio, off the coast of Italy.

The five-year-old Concordia, carrying more than 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crewmembers, had embarked from Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, only a few hours earlier on the evening of January 13, 2012. Passengers noted there was no lifeboat drill conducted after the ship’s departure and complained that the crew did not provide instructions on how to evacuate. Heavy listing meant many of lifeboats could not be released, and several passengers and crewmembers were killed during the incident.

Although Costa Cruises—owned by Miami-based Carnival Corporation—caters primarily to the European market, the accident is rocking the cruise industry. Cruise experts were bracing for a downturn in bookings in the middle of Wave Season, the three-month period when many cruises are booked for the coming year.

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

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Greece shipwreck disaster exposes Europe’s deadly failure

Central Mediterranean migration route grows ever more perilous amid bickering and division over creating safe passages

The deaths of as many as 500 people feared drowned in the sinking of an overcrowded fishing boat off southern Greece have once more thrown a spotlight on the world’s deadliest migratory route – and Europe’s failure to tackle one of its greatest challenges.

Since the International Organization for Migration (IoM) launched its missing migrants project in 2014, an estimated 27,000 people trying to reach Europe have been recorded as dead or disappeared while trying to cross the Mediterranean.

More than 21,000 of those deaths have occurred on the so-called central Mediterranean route from Libya or Tunisia north to Greece or Italy, a crossing that can take several days and is often made in unseaworthy, dangerously overloaded boats.

Most migrants to Greece now cross from Turkey, either reaching the eastern Greek islands by boat or crossing the Evros River along the land border – and their number has fallen sharply since Athens stepped up sea patrols and built a border fence.

Because the trek up to western or northern Europe from Greece also involves an often arduous crossing of the Balkans, many migrants now seek to bypass Greece.

Instead, the vast majority now head for Italy, which has recorded 55,160 “irregular” arrivals in Europe so far this year – more than double the number in 2022 – mostly from Ivory Coast, Egypt, Guinea, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The central Mediterranean route is, meanwhile, becoming deadlier. According to an IoM report in April, at least 441 people drowned making the crossing between January and March this year, the deadliest three-month period since 2017.

A further 600 who attempted the crossing in April and May are known to be dead or missing, bringing the total this year to at least 1,039 before Wednesday’s deaths. The real figure, given that many sinkings are never recorded, is believed to be far higher.

The IoM has pointed the finger – although without naming names – at some Mediterranean governments, where state-led search and rescue (SAR) operations have been delayed and NGO-operated vessels obstructed.

Italy has imposed severe restrictions and even impounded humanitarian vessels, while Greece faces multiple allegations that it pushes people back to Turkey, illegally preventing them from claiming asylum, something Athens has consistently denied.

Overall, the number of people trying to reach Europe remains well down on its 2015-2016 peak, thanks in part to a 2016 EU deal with Turkey and a much-criticised 2017 arrangement with Libya that in effect outsources rescues to the Libyan coastguard.

But the number is climbing – and with anti-immigration sentiment and political pressure on the rise across the continent, the question remains one of the EU’s biggest problems, with member states profoundly divided.

Southern “frontline” states have long borne the brunt; wealthier northern “destination” states are often reluctant to share the burden; and hardline central and eastern ones (such as Hungary and Poland) have refused to accept any such refugees at all.

After years of bickering, EU leaders last week announced a breakthrough in negotiations for a new migration and asylum pact, including charges of €20,000 (£17,200) a head for member countries that refuse to host refugees.

The bloc agreed that member states, rather than the EU as a whole, would determine which countries were considered “safe” for migrants turned away because they were ineligible for asylum, giving member states greater individual flexibility.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has also said the bloc was considering providing more than €1bn (£850m) in aid for Tunisia to rescue state finances and help deal with its migration crisis.

Many critics, however, argue that little genuine progress has been made on creating safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to Europe, with too much recent emphasis on restricting asylum applications and criminalising SAR activities.

“Every lost life is a tragedy,” Maria Clara Martin, UNHCR’s representative in Greece, said on Thursday. “These deaths could have been avoided by creating more safe means of entry for people forced to flee conflicts and persecution.”

Gianluca Rocco, the IoM’s head of mission in Greece, said it was “urgent to have concrete and coordinated action from states to save lives at sea, and to reduce dangerous journeys by increasing safe and regular migration routes”.

The underlying causes pushing so many to come to Europe – war, natural disasters, the climate crisis, poverty, inequality and food insecurity – will not be going away anytime soon.

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People injured after P&O cruise ship involved in 'weather-related incident' in Mallorca

It is reported that P&O ship Britannia, carrying thousands of passengers, crashed into a freight vessel on Sunday morning.

News reporter @Reemul_B

Monday 28 August 2023 07:42, UK

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People have been injured after a P&O cruise liner was involved in a "weather-related incident" in Mallorca, the company has said.

It is reported that P&O ship Britannia, carrying thousands of travellers, crashed into a freight vessel on Sunday morning during severe storms.

One passenger's footage showed fierce gusts sweeping across the waves from the ship's window.

Storm in Palma Mallorca breaks it’s moorings and pushes P&O Britannia into another ship and onto rocks. Ship not compromised and being pushed back into position by tugs pic.twitter.com/0RbdQIhPRT — Stephen Marsh (@millermanuk) August 27, 2023

P&O Cruises told Sky News the ship was involved in a "weather-related incident" alongside the port in Palma, Mallorca's capital.

The company added that a "small number of people" sustained minor injuries and were being treated by their onboard medical team.

It added that it would make an assessment of Britannia, which would remain in Palma for the night with "onboard entertainment and activities scheduled".

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According to the company's website, Britannia has 13 guest decks and an operating capacity of 3,647 guests and 1,350 crew.

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It left Southampton's port on 18 August for a two-week Mediterranean cruise passing through Cadiz and Ibiza, before getting caught near Palma de Mallorca.

Videos have emerged of extreme winds catapulting debris into buildings on one of the island's many resorts.

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Cruise Ship Sinks Near Greece; 2 Missing

April 6, 2007 / 12:32 PM EDT / CBS/AP

A Mediterranean cruise ship that struck a volcanic reef and forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists sank on Friday, 15 hours after it began taking on water off the coast of the Greek island of Santorini. A Frenchman and his daughter were missing, officials said.

The death throes of the Sea Diamond were broadcast around the world Friday morning, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips .

Passengers on Thursday climbed down rope ladders to coast guard boats below in a three-hour rescue that involved Greece's military, commercial ships and the island's local fishermen. About 700 of the 1200 passengers on the five-day cruise were American, many of them students. There were also groups from Canada and Spain.

Authorities said two French passengers — a 45-year-old man and his 16-year-old daughter — had still not been accounted for, and lists of rescued passengers were being rechecked.

Tourism Minister Fanny Palli Petralia said she had spoken with the missing passenger's wife.

"The lady said her cabin filled with water when the ship struck rocks and that she narrowly escaped," Petralia said. "She was not sure whether her husband and daughter made it out because things happened so suddenly ... in a few seconds. Her other child was up on deck and was evacuated safely."

Those rescued said most people remained calm though there were some tense moments.

The Sea Diamond struck rocks in the sea-filled crater formed by a volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. But the waters are well-charted, reports Phillips .

Tourists gathered on clifftop towns and villages to watch the rescue.

"We realized there was a serious problem ... We exited our cabin and it was tough to be able to walk out of the ship. A lot of people were very emotional over it, upset, very frightened," said Stephen Johnson, a Canadian passenger.

An Australian passenger, Katie Sumner, said the early stages of the rescue were chaotic.

"We heard a big shudder and then the whole boat started to tilt," Sumner said.

"All of our glasses were sliding everywhere and our warning that the ship was sinking was some of the staff running down the corridor screaming out 'life jackets' and banging on doors, so we got no time to, sort of, get ready or anything, we just left as we were."

The 469-foot Sea Diamond was operated by Louis Cruise Lines, part of a Cyprus-based tourism group. The Merchant Marine Ministry said 1,195 passengers and 391 crew members were on board.

"Whoever is responsible for this will be held accountable in the strictest way," Petralia said. "Greece is a major tourism destination and incidents like this must not be allowed to occur. ... Authorities handled the rescue very well."

Most of the rescued passengers arrived at Athens' main port of Piraeus Friday on a chartered ferry and a Louis cruise ship.

Authorities on Santorini said they were working to contain a small oil spillage from the sunken ship.

The Sea Diamond's captain and three officers were being interviewed Friday by coast guard investigators who flew to Santorini.

More than 300 rescued passengers arrived at Athens' main port of Piraeus early Friday on a chartered ferry, and more were due to arrive later in the day on another Louis cruise ship.

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Tragedy on the Mediterranean: Cruise ship runs…

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Tragedy on the mediterranean: cruise ship runs aground off coast of italy, 17 still missing.

The massive Costa Concordia – which was carrying more than 4,000 people, including 126 Americans – took on so much water through a 160-foot gash that the ship quickly listed to its side, preventing many of its life boats from being launched.

Six people were confirmed dead and 17 others were missing, potentially lost on the capsized ship, the largest vessel ever to sink.

The 114,500-ton vessel’s captain, Francesco Schettino , was charged with manslaughter and leaving his post after the horrific wreck, which comes just months before the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

SEE: GRIPPING PHOTOS OF THE SINKING OF THE COSTA CONCORDIA.

The tragedy unfolded as many of the guests settled down to a candlelight dinner, the Mediterranean Sea passing serenely outside the grand windows of their luxury cruise ship.

But what was to have been a week-long dream vacation was suddenly interrupted by the nightmarish sound of steel of giving way – and a violent crash that toppled everything in the tony dining room.

The cruise ship plunged into darkness – and then chaos.

“They were at dinner at the time, and they just heard a bang and felt a jolt and all of a sudden the ship tilted,” said Phyllis Papa of Wallingford, Conn., whose sister and niece were aboard the glitzy liner.

“There was a lot of chaos no one knew what to do or where to go, and they couldn’t walk because it was tilting so bad,” Papa said. “Everyone was screaming. They thought they were going to die.”

Officials at the United States Embassy in Rome said all of the Americans onboard the ill-fated ship were accounted for.

“They had nothing but there clothes on, they lost everything,” said Papa, who spoke to her sister Maria and niece, Melissa Goduti , in the hours after their brush with a watery grave. “They watched it sink.”

Carrying 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew members, the Costa Concordia was on its usual weekly route across the Mediterranean Sea and departed Civitavecchia – the port of Rome – three hours before disaster struck.

The liner’s captain told investigators that the 950-foot-long ship hit a submerged rock – which Schettino claimed was not on his navigation chart – that immediately ripped a savage gash in the ship’s side.

Schettino tried to steer the vessel toward the shallow water off the island’s coast – but the Costa Concordia took on so much water, navigation was nearly impossible.

Investigators are probing whether Schettino, 52, delayed in sounding a mandatory mayday that could have more quickly brought help to the wounded ship, according to ANSA, an Italian news agency.

Schettino denied the charge and claimed he was the last survivor off the ship. His first mate, Ciro Ambrosio , was also being held.

Several passengers complained the crew tried to downplay the accident, claiming that a simple technical failure had caused the lights to go out – and didn’t move to evacuate people until 45 minutes after the collision.

“My dad said, ‘You need to start lowering these boats. We want to get off,'” said Lindsay Underwood of Wingham, Ontario, whose mother and father, Laurie and Alan Willits , were aboard.

“He and my mom stayed there until they started lowering the boats,” Underwood said. “Somebody screwed up major.”

Passengers recounted terrifying images of cabins filled with water and panicked tourists trying to climb to safety as the ship began to tilt at a frightening angle.

Witnesses said some vacationers jumped into the sea. Their fates were unknown.

Fishing boats in the area rescued scores of passengers while Italian naval helicopters plucked another 50 stranded on the ship.

Thousands of the passengers were moved to Giglio Island, far outnumbering the tiny island’s population. Many of them remained huddled on the island Saturday night, waiting to be transported back to the mainland.

Passengers reported that the ship, which had been at sea for more than a week, had yet to run its first evacuation drill.

That initial dry-run had been scheduled for Saturday afternoon – when instead the ship was lying flat on its side, mostly submerged in the cold water. Rescue workers swarmed the lifeless vessel looking for survivors and clues as to what led to the deadly crash.

“I want to express our deep sorrow for this terrible tragedy,” said Gianni Onorato , president of Costa Cruises, which operates the ship.

An Italian news agency reported that the vessel had been in one previous accident, though no one was injured when the Concordia slammed into a Palermo dock in 2008.

With Helen Kennedy and News Wire Services

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Tragic story of cruise ship disaster which left 33 passengers dead

The 2012 disaster left 33 passengers and crew members dead.

Joshua Nair

In 2012, a cruise ship disaster killed 33 of its passengers and crew members, with the captain's actions during the disaster leading to an investigation.

The disaster occurred just off the west coast of Italy , with the cruise ship on one of its routine voyages.

The Costa Concordia was an Italian cruise ship that, when launched in 2005, was Italy's longest cruise ship at a length of 290 metres.

Owned by Costa Crociere, it has a passenger capacity of 3,780, in comparison to the Titanic , which was only 269 metres long with a capacity of 2,435 passengers.

Known for its numerous luxuries, such as four swimming pools, a casino and reportedly the largest ever spa on a ship.

It took its maiden voyage in July 2006, a seven-day trip around the Mediterranean Sea with stops in Italy, France and Spain, which would go on to become its standard route.

It travelled along this route for the next five and a half years.

On 13 January 2012, the Concordia disembarked from Civitavecchia, Italy, with 1,023 crew members and 3,206 passengers aboard.

It approached Giglio Island hours later, deviating from its regular course, moving closer to the island for a maritime 'salute' , where it would sound its horn.

However, a rock formation was noticed in the ship's path and Captain Francesco Schettino ordered a change in course, but due to language issues with the Indonesian helmsman, the ship was steered in the opposite direction.

Taking 13 seconds to correct the manoeuvre, the boat's bow swung clear but the stern caught the reef at 9:45pm, leaving a 53 metre tear in the port's left side.

Several areas of the boat, including the engine room, were flooded with the ship losing power.

As the engines and rudder stopped functioning, the ship couldn't be steered, but wind and the rudder's position steered the boat toward the island.

The captain downplayed the damage to the Italian coastguard at 10:14pm, noting that the ship only had a blackout, but 10 minutes later, he admitted that the ship was taking on water.

At 10:39pm, the first rescue vessel arrived, and just 15 minutes later, the captain ordered the ship be abandoned - even though reports say that lifeboats had been launched.

At 11:20pm, Schettino left the bridge and abandoned ship, later claiming that he fell of the ship and landed in a lifeboat.

13 minutes after this, the final crew member departed the bridge, despite the fact that 300 people were still on the sinking ship.

At 12:40 am, a coast guard called Schettino, who was in a lifeboat with other officers, and when ordered to return and oversee the evacuation, he refused.

Luckily, rescue operations has descended onto the scene and included 25 patrol boats, 14 merchant vessels and several helicopters.

By morning, 4,194 people had been evacuated to Giglio Island, with divers saving three more from inside the ship the following day.

Unfortunately, 32 people died in the disaster, and one member of the rescue team too, though the last body of a passenger wasn't recovered until November 2014.

Schettino and members of his team were charged with multiple offences, including manslaughter, with Schettino eventually convicted on all charges and sentenced to more than 16 years in prison.

Topics:  Cruise Ship , Travel , World News , Crime

Joshua Nair is a journalist at LADbible. Born in Malaysia and raised in Dubai, he has always been interested in writing about a range of subjects, from sports to trending pop culture news. After graduating from Oxford Brookes University with a BA in Media, Journalism and Publishing, he got a job freelance writing for SPORTbible while working in marketing before landing a full-time role at LADbible. Unfortunately, he's unhealthily obsessed with Manchester United, which takes its toll on his mental and physical health. Daily.

@ joshnair10

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Two dead, five missing after boat collision on Danube in Hungary

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Two killed in boat crash as injured man found bleeding on riverbank

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Two people have been killed and five others are missing after two boats crashed on the Danube River.

Hungarian police say the crash between a small motor boat and a cruise ship happened late on Saturday evening, and was reported after a man with a bleeding head wound was found on the riverbank.

He was found by the river near Veroce, which is 34 miles north of the capital Budapest. A man’s body was found close by, while the body of a woman was recovered further downstream.

The damaged motor boat was found close to the woman’s body, near a bridge on the northern outskirts of Budapest.

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Disaster response units are still searching for the five other passengers – three men and two women – who were aboard the small motor boat, with drones, boats, and rescue divers involved in the search.

Soma Csecsi, a spokesperson for Budapest police, said: ‘Police talked to the man and from his initial communication they drew the conclusion that he was probably the victim of some kind of boat accident.

‘At the time of the accident a cruise ship was located in the area, which was stopped at the town of Komarom where police have determined that the ship is damaged on one side.’

Police believe the other ship involved is the 109-metre-long cruise ship identified as Swiss-based Heidelberg.

It’s not known how many people were on board at the time, or their nationalities, and police stopped the Heidelberg more than 50 miles upriver.

An investigation against an ‘unknown perpetrator’ on suspicion of endangering water transport and causing the death of several people has now been launched by police, to discover if anyone is criminally liable for the crash.

The deadly incident comes five years after at least 27 people were killed in Budapest when a river cruise boat collided with a smaller tourist vessel, sinking it in seconds.

Tourist boat Hableany, carrying 35 people who were mostly South Korean tourists, was overtaken from behind by the much larger cruise boat, Viking Sigyn, beneath Budapest’s Margit Bridge, in May 2019.

The Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn was last year found guilty of negligence leading to a fatal mass catastrophe and sentenced to five years and six months in prison. He has appealed the decision.

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California Bans GM's Cruise Robotaxis After Near-Fatal Pedestrian Accident

Update, October 27: Cruise has suspended all operations across the U.S., saying on X (formally known as Twitter) "we have decided to proactively pause driverless operations across all of our fleets while we take time to examine our processes, systems, and tools and reflect on how we can better operate in a way that will earn public trust. "

While you're probably used to hearing autonomous driving horror stories related to Tesla and its Autopilot and Full-Self Driving (FSD) driver assistance features and their penchant of hitting emergency vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians, there's a new source of discomfort for the robot-skeptical. The GM-backed robotaxi service, Cruise, recently graduated from merely causing traffic jams with their software's ponderous decision making (and being easily defeated by traffic cones placed on their hoods) to darker horizons.

The California DMV alleges Cruise has been deceptive and withheld evidence of major safety issues with its autonomous test vehicles. This wrongdoing was the straw that finally broke the Golden State's regulatory body and force it to suspend the license for Cruise to operate with fully autonomous driving Chevrolet Bolt taxis.

The evidence is rather shocking, but it's allegation that Cruise withheld video of issues that is particularly damning. According to the California DMV (viaVice) , Cruise did not hand over video evidence related to an ongoing investigation into the safety of the fully autonomous Chevrolet Cruise taxis and have declared in a statement that "the manufacturer's vehicles are not safe for the public's operation." Back in August, California regulators had approved the expansion of Cruise's service and allowed it to operate 24 hours a day.

What Did Cruise Do Wrong?

According to the story on Vice , the video in question covers a recent incident that made national news, in which a Cruise robotaxi came to a hard stop before driving over a pedestrian who had already been hit by another human-driven car. The Cruise vehicle then attempted to pull over and crawl along the roadside for 20 feet—with the victim still pinned underneath it.

The DMV alleges that Cruise only showed the first hard stop when requested for footage of the incident and only learned of the additional footage showing the rest of the incident from an unnamed government agency. Only when confronted did Cruise finally reveal the rest of the video evidence. Cruise denies not showing the fully video to the DMV in a statement to Vice's Motherboard from spokesperson, Hannah Lindow, saying "I can confirm that Cruise showed the full video to the DMW on October 3rd, and played it multiple times." TechCrunchwas also told the same thing by Cruise.

The license suspension is effective immediately and Cruise has suspended operations in San Fransisco, but it appears that the suspension could be lifted by meeting "a number of steps." What those steps would take has not been revealed by the DMV, which also states that Cruise may continue to operate under testing conditions but must do so with a safety driver behind the wheel.

The Fallout Has Been Immediate

Not long after news broke of Cruise's autonomous license suspension, Los Angeles City Council member Hugo Soto-Martinez released a statement via email that he would introduce a motion on October 25 to urge California state officials to "address public safety concerns around autonomous vehicles and reign in the expansion of robotaxis" in the city. According to the release by Soto-Martinez, the issue isn't just with Cruise and stated that robotaxi services in Los Angeles "has already been met with outrage from public safety officials and local residents ." It then states that Waymo has "well documented" incidents and that the NHTSA reported that it "had the most automated driving system crashes" of any autonomous vehicle company in 2021.

This motion will come not long after Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed AB 316 a bill on autonomous semi-trucks that would have stymied their development. No doubt, news of Cruise's actions and its license suspension will potentially help fuel a new California assembly bill that will expand beyond those autonomous trucks and into robotaxis.

Teamsters Local 586 also released a statement that, while indicating happiness with Cruise's license being suspended, adds that it's not enough action by the California government. "The DMV's decision to suspend Cruise's operating license is a step in the right direction, but it's too little, too late . The Teamsters will not be appeased by baby steps or half-measures," said Teamsters Western Region International Vice President, Peter Finn. "We are also disappointed to see that the DMV is providing Cruise with a pathway to apply for license re-instatement. The agency itself has alleged that Cruise misrepresented information related to the safety of its vehicles. This company doesn't deserve a second chance."

Motortrend.com

GM-owned Cruise reached a more than $8M settlement with pedestrian who was dragged by robo taxi 

Cruise, the self-driving robo taxi company owned by General Motors , reached a settlement with the pedestrian who was dragged by one of its vehicles last fall, according to someone with knowledge of the matter and independently verified by Fortune .

The settlement was between $8-12 million, Fortune has learned. It’s unclear exactly when the settlement was reached.

The accident itself took place late in the evening on Oct. 2 when a pedestrian who was crossing the road in San Francisco was struck in a hit-and-run by another vehicle, then subsequently dragged for 20 feet by one of Cruise’s autonomous robo-taxis. Regulators determined Cruise had not been forthcoming enough with them about the incident, and ordered Cruise to halt its taxi service in San Francisco. Cruise subsequently pulled all of its vehicles off the road across the U.S., and it is just now starting to reintroduce its robo taxi fleet back on the roads.

The current condition of the pedestrian remains unknown. A representative from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where the pedestrian was taken after the incident in critical condition, said that the pedestrian had been discharged, but declined to share any further information. The San Francisco Police Department said it continues to investigate the incident.

“The hearts of all Cruise employees continue to be with the pedestrian, and we hope for her continued recovery,” a Cruise spokesperson said in a statement.

Cruise said earlier this week that it would start testing its self-driving vehicles in Arizona—operating autonomously, but with human drivers inside the vehicles to take over, if needed. The testing will begin in Phoenix and will then gradually move into other cities in the state. At the beginning of April, Cruise submitted responses to the California DMV to reinstate its permit, though the DMV told Fortune those responses are still under review.

In the six months following the October accident, General Motors slashed Cruise’s annual budget by $1 billion and replaced nearly all of the company’s management team. Cruise has recorded $9.2 billion in pre-tax losses since GM acquired the company in 2016, according to filings. 

Do you have an insight to share? Got a tip? Contact Jessica Mathews at [email protected] or through the secure messaging app Signal at 479-715-9553.

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Celebrity Apex sets sail from Southampton UK for inaugural season

Setting sail on May 15 for her inaugural season from Southampton , Celebrity Cruises ' popular ship Celebrity Apex marked a significant milestone as the first vessel from the fleet's EDGE class homeported in the United Kingdom.

Celebrity Apex began her European season with an 8-night Norwegian Fjords itinerary roundtrip from Southampton. This voyage will take passengers to enchanting destinations, including Bruges Belgium , known as 'the Venice of the North,' with its picturesque canals and charming cobblestone streets; Geiranger Norway , renowned for the stunning Geirangerfjord, where waterfalls cascade into deep-blue waters surrounded by towering snow-capped mountains; and Kristiansand Norway , a vibrant waterfront town famed as 'Summer City,' offering sandy beaches, premium shopping, and a lively cultural scene.

As the second ship in the groundbreaking Edge Series, Celebrity Apex redefines ocean travel with its innovative outward-facing design and visionary spaces that set new standards at sea. Onboard, guests will enjoy elevated cruising experiences with enhanced dining options, luxurious spa and wellness amenities, and high-energy entertainment comparable to top land-based performances.

From May through October 2024, Celebrity Apex will offer a range of itineraries from Southampton, including four-to-13-night voyages to breathtaking destinations in Northern Europe and the Canary Islands. Notable sailings include a 12-night Norwegian Fjords and Arctic Circle cruise, showcasing the region's awe-inspiring natural beauty.

Additionally, guests can explore enhanced destinations such as Ibiza , where they can indulge in local culinary delights, enjoy vibrant beach clubs, and soak up the Mediterranean sunshine.