Brussels, 16/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The sinking of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy has the sympathy of European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas, who is preparing to send his condolences to his Italian counterpart, as the European Cruise Council has done. The association stressed that the industry respects the highest safety standards.
On the evening of Friday 13 January, the Italian liner Costa Concordia sank off the coast of the Italian island of Giglio, probably due to navigation errors which remain to be determined. The shipwreck of this seagoing giant has so far left six dead and 15 still unaccounted for among the 4,000 passengers on board the luxury cruise liner.
Via his Twitter account, Commissioner Kallas expressed his deepest sympathy for the victims and their families, the day after a disaster which he described as the most tragic event ever to happen on the Mediterranean. Going on to congratulate the rescuers on their efforts, he is also due to send a letter to his Italian counterpart, Corrado Passera, the minister for economic development, infrastructure and transport, to express his sympathy officially. The letter may also offer help to the Italian authorities in operations to rescue and clean up the liner, which is nearly 300m long, and which sank just 150m from the island.
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has made no further comment on the incident, but will be involved over the longer term. The Agency will take account of the results of the ongoing Italian inquiry, in order to set out the consequences of the accident and improve maritime navigation generally.
The European Cruise Council (ECC) has also expressed its sympathy to passengers and staff who were on board. Tim Marking, the general secretary of the association representing some 60 companies, including Costa Cruises, wished to reassure the other cruise passengers. He underlined the fact that all the companies belonging to the ECC present the highest levels of safety throughout the world according to internationally established standards with, above all, regular training to manage crisis situations and evacuation, and strict rules to be complied with for the construction and use of vessels. Marking sought to be reassuring and added that, over the past two decades, cruise lines have had the very best safety results in the travel industry, while carrying over 90 million people throughout the world. (MD/transl.fl/jl)