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Costa Cruise Lines

January 14, 2012 by · Comments Off on Costa Cruise Lines 

Costa Cruise Lines, The Costa cruise line has a long record of accidents and scandal on its ships. In 2010 its vessels had two collisions. Power failure was blamed when the Costa Classica smashed into a cargo vessel in China’s Yangtze River injuring three people; the other came when the captain tried to dock the Costa Europa at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt during high winds, killing three crew and injuring four passengers.

Costa Europa passenger Arlene Grant, from Aberdeen, said at the time: “We were coming into port and, as we came around a point of land, the boat hit the jetty, leaving a hole in deck one.

“The captain made an announcement saying there had been an accident but to continue as normal.

“But at 5.30am another announcement was made and we were told to pack our luggage and abandon ship.

“By that time, the boat had listed to one side and things were flying all over the place.

“It was pretty terrifying as it was dark and the ship had been listing. I think this was to keep the hole out of the water.”

An unnamed maritime official blamed that accident on “100 per cent human error”, but Costa Cruises said it was due to bad weather.

In the same year the Costa Atlantica developed steering problems and a crew member was later arrested over possessing and importing child pornography.

In 2009 the cruise line was fined $35,000 for deceptive advertising and the same year saw a near-mutiny on the Costa Europa over engine problems as well as a fire on the Costa Romantica in the generator room which led to 1,429 passengers being evacuated..

In 2008 the Costa Concordia hit the dockside in Palermo in bad weather and the crew of the Costa Atlantica was criticised by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch after they almost collided with a car transporter in the Channel.

The waterway has a strict two-way traffic system and they had strayed into oncoming ships, forcing another vessel to do a u-turn at speed in order to avoid a crash. There were 1,697 passengers on board at the time

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