Jonathan Danko Kielkowski publishes his new book Concordia, revealing images from the inside of the ship which ran aground just off the coast of Tuscany in 2012.
The Costa Concordia was a ship, built in 2004 and operated as a cruiser liner from 2005 to 2012. She was 290m in length and a draught of 8.2m. She had 13 decks and a capacity of 3780 passengers with 1000 crew. At the vessel’s launch on 2nd September 2005 the champagne bottle failed to break when it was swung against the hull for the first time; a hugely inauspicious omen in maritime superstition.
On 13th January 2012 the Costa Concordia hit a rock off the coast of Tuscany, Italy, causing a huge gash along the port side hull, 3 compartments of the engine room were hit causing all power from the engines and ship services to cease. Taking on water the ship drifted astern onto her starboard side. Although half the ship remained above water it was at a huge risk of slipping into a trough 70m deep.
Although international maritime law requires all passengers to be evacuated within 30 minutes of the ship’s order of abandonment the whole process took the Costa Concordia a total of 6 hours, and not all passengers were evacuated. She was carrying a total of 4252 people on board; all of but 32 were rescued. As of 22nd march 2012 30 bodies had been found, the other two people were missing, presumed dead, however, there may have been other people, not listed, on board.
The ship’s captain Schettino allegedly left the ship prematurely, with 300 passengers left on board. Maritime tradition dictates that; “The captain goes down with the ship”, whereby the captain holds ultimate responsibilty for both his ship and everyone embarked on it, it is often expected for the captain to die trying to save his passengers and crew. Therefore abandoning a ship in distress may be considered a crime in some countries, resulting in fines or imprisonment. Abandoning ship is a maritime crime in Italy among a few other countries; hence why Schettino was arrested and jailed for at least 16 years.
13th January 2016 saw the 4 year anniversary of the sinking of the Costa Concordia. Yesterday, (21st January 2016) incredible images of this very same cruise ship were shared all over the internet after Jonathan Danko Kielkowski released his new book “Concordia”.
The German photographer had swum out to the ship in order to capture the ship’s interior four years after the disaster. Below are some of Kielkowski’s images shot on board the eerie ship; the inside of which is covered in bright green and blue coral and moss, and sea plants found all over the walls and ceilings. Pieces of the ship’s interiors are found rotting and rusting, hundreds of pieces of debris found everywhere:
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Those are amazing pictures, and an amazing ship.
Those are awesome photos! Thanks for sharing them!