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Is Costa Concordia still in water?

Capsized and partially sank in 2012 off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany. Salvaged in 2014 and subsequently scrapped in Genoa, Italy in 2017.



As of 2026, the Costa Concordia no longer exists and is not in the water. Following its tragic grounding and partial sinking off the coast of Isola del Giglio, Italy, in January 2012, one of the most complex and expensive maritime salvage operations in history was undertaken. In September 2013, the ship was successfully "righted" in a process known as parbuckling. In July 2014, the vessel was refloated using massive metal tanks (sponsons) and towed to the Port of Genoa on the Italian mainland. The subsequent dismantling and scrapping process was an immense industrial feat that took nearly three years to complete. By July 2017, the final sections of the hull were broken down for scrap metal, and the site where it once lay has since undergone extensive environmental remediation to restore the seabed. The $2 billion salvage and scrapping cost—nearly triple the ship's original construction price—marked the end of the vessel's physical presence. Today, only memorials and the historical record of the 32 lives lost remain, as the ship itself has been entirely recycled into industrial steel.

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The Concordia was left on its side for two-and-a-half years, looking like a giant beached white whale. For some residents, it never left. On the night of the disaster Sister Pasqualina Pellegrino, an elderly nun, opened up the local school, the convent and a canteen to take in the shipwrecked.

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Scrapping of the ship was completed on 7 July 2017.

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How long did it take for Costa Concordia to sink? It actually didn't sink, it grounded on Giglio, capsized and that was it. If she'd been in deeper water she would have gone down just about even keel as the damage was more or less centralised.

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TUSCANY, Italy A five-year-old girl and her dad died after being turned away from a lifeboat while other passengers leapt into the sea and drowned on the night the Costa Concordia sunk off Tuscany, Italy, on January 13, 2012.

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The Concordia was slightly larger (952 feet to the Titanic's 883 feet) and both had a top speed of 23 knots. Both had issues with their christening, and believers in superstition might attribute the ships' tragedies to it.

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In the United States, there is no explicit law requiring a captain to remain on their ship, but they could face criminal charges if they acted with negligence or extreme disregard for human life in abandoning a vessel in distress or causing a maritime accident in the first place.

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There is no question of repair: instead the Costa Concordia will be towed to a facility where she can be broken up and smelted down to be recycled and re-used. The closest port with any sizeable ship breaking business is Turkey, but that is a fair distance to tow a giant, badly-damaged ship.

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Cruise ships can and have tipped over, but it is extremely rare. One of the most notable incidents was the capsizing of the Costa Concordia in 2012, which resulted in the deaths of 32 people. The accident was attributed to human error and resulted in many changes within the industry, particularly in bridge management.

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The sinking of RMS Titanic in April 1912 remains the worst, and the most infamous, cruise ship disaster in history. The sinking of the biggest passenger ship ever built at the time resulted in the death of more than 1,500 of the 2,208 people onboard.

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Social and legal responsibility. The tradition says that the captain should be the last person to leave their ship alive before its sinking, and if they're unable to evacuate the crew and passengers from the ship, the captain will choose not to save himself even if he has an opportunity to do so.

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The court heard how some passengers were sucked into a vortex of water rushing into the ship when the Concordia capsized. This happened after the crew told them to go to the other side of the ship where lifeboats were being launched, and the passengers ended up trying to walk down a tilting corridor.

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January 13, 2012: Captain Francesco Schettino abandoned his ship before hundreds of passengers had been evacuated during the Costa Concordia disaster. 32 people died in the accident. Schettino was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the disaster.

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