Bryan Creason

Staff Writer

    The Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise ship valued at about 583 million US dollars, struck a reef off the Italian coast on January 13 and finally capsized near Isola del Giglio, an Italian island. As of now, 15 of the 4,197 people onboard have been confirmed dead, with about 20 people still missing. Recent reports, however, state that there may have been any number of unregistered people aboard, leaving the question of how many people are still missing open.

    The captain, Francesco Schettino, supposedly abandoned the boat while people were still on board. Audio between the captain and Coast Guard officer Gregorio De Falco puts Schettino away from the boat with people still aboard the capsized ship. Schettino told the press he was thrown into a lifeboat when the ship suddenly tilted. He is currently under house arrest and awaiting his next court hearing. If convicted, he may face 15 years in prison for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship.

    People are already speculating how exactly this accident happened. Some witnesses say they saw the captain drinking alcohol on the night of the accident. Others say he was trying to impress one of the dancers on the ship. Schettino himself says that he was asked by his officials to salute the Isole le Scole, an Italian island, for publicity reasons.

    A full investigation and search-and-rescue is currently underway. Siphoning fuel from the partially sunken liner hasn’t begun yet, and according to Admiral Ilarione Dell’Anna, it would take 28 days to siphon all the fuel. A date for when the ship would be cleared from the Italian coastline is in question due to maritime conditions and technical difficulties. No word yet on whether Costa Cruises, the company that owns the downed ship, will be scrapping the ship or trying to salvage it.