_ The Costa Concordia, an Italian liner, went aground on the coast of Italy. They hit a rocky spur. Italians, Britains, and Germans had to leave the ship less than two hours after leaving port. Some leaped overboard and swam ashore near Island of Giglio. The Coast Guard Said three bodies were retrieved from the sea and 69 were unaccounted for out of 3200 passengers. The starboard side was submerged in the water.

Dinner on Friday night was interrupted by a loud boom. Then came the order to don the life jackets. The ship started to list. All the glasses broke and people panicked and ran. The water started coming in. The emergency alarm went off. People pushed in a bid to gt into lifeboats.

The crew had trouble launching the lifeboats because the ship was listing so much. This is the same as the Lusitania disaster 100 years ago in 1915. This is why I asked what training Cunard crew members had in dealing with lifeboats during the Transatlantic virtual cruise last week. It’s still a relevant point. Some passengers complained that they had received no instruction in lifeboats before the sinking. You would think that cruise lines had learned nothing in the past 100 years!