only today (Sept 16th)

[rhubarbodendron]

Today Italian specialists try to righten up the wrecked Costa Concordia, a huge tourist ship that capsized 2 years ago. They'll pull the ship upright with steel ropes and stabilize it with airbags.
There's a livestream at: http://www.br.de/nachrichten/livestream-aktuell-100.html
They started at 09:00 local time and now (13:00) it's already turned about 15°. Looks like it's getting faster, too: 10° within the last 30 minutes.

They estimate they'll be finished by 21:00 CET, so if you'd like to watch the work live, today is your only chance


The ship got wrecked when the captain drove far too close to an island because he wanted to brag with his huge ship. This idiocy cost 32 passengers their lives, more than 200 got seriousely injured.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Have they finished yet?

I can't seem to look at your link on my iPad and I can't be bothered to go out and turn my laptop on.

 

[Chensams]

That's amazing.

 

[Lindley]

I didn't realize it was still sitting there.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

They are finished, Miss Chicken. The link is now dead.
It took 20 hours to get the ship back up. Several hundred international specialists were involved and the whole action cost 600.000 million Euros - almost a billion Dollars. She's being stabilized now and will anchor there for the next half year until she will finally get towed away in spring, after the storm season.

That'll presumably be a good deal earlier than the trial against the captain will end. It started a few weeks ago and he offered to plead guilty to having caused bodily harm if he's guaranteed a penalty of 3 1/2 years at maximum.
I'm glad to say the court didn't accept that offer. This guy killed 32 people and injured several hundred, destroyed a ship twice the size of the Titanic, polluted the environment, didn't bother about the evacuation of his passengers (mostly elderly people) and was among the first to leave the ship. In my opinion he should get the full 25 years and be whipped daily.

 

[M'Sharak]

They are finished, Miss Chicken. The link is now dead.

You can still watch a time-lapse video of the operation here or here, though.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

cool! Thank you, M'Sharak! I could only find links in German or Italian.

Btw, I can't recall: did they salvage all 32 bodies when she capsized or are there any left on board?

 

[Ó Méith]

There are still two bodies believed to be aboard.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Ah. Thank you! I guess they would be in the part of the ship that's badly damaged. The part that lay directly on the reef. With all the decks torn open in that section it's quite possible that they got washed out and will never be found. The whole matter must be pretty horrible for their families

 

[iguana_tonante]

The operation was all over the news here it Italy. It was rather impressive.

 

[Captrek]

The ship got wrecked when the captain drove far too close to an island because he wanted to brag with his huge ship. This idiocy cost 32 passengers their lives, more than 200 got seriousely injured.

A similar moment from Star Trek, but without the tragic ending:

VALERIS: Clear all moorings.
KIRK: Awaiting port gates from this mark.
SPACEDOCK VOICE: All lines cleared.
VALERIS: Aft thrusters.
KIRK: Thank you. Lieutenant, one-quarter impulse power.
VALERIS: Captain, may I remind you that regulations specify thrusters only while in Spacedock?
SPOCK: Hm. Hm.
McCOY (OC): Jim?
KIRK: You heard the order, Lieutenant.
VALERIS: Aye sir.

I have disliked that scene from the first time I saw it in '91. How can Kirk have failed to learn the lesson from TWOK? Now since the Costa Concordia wreck I can't help but think of Schettino's idiocy every time I see that scene. It turns what was intended to be a fun moment into a real bummer.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

It never occured to me that these situations were similar but you're absolutely right. That's what I always disliked about Kirk: he took unneccessary risks and endangered ship and crew all the time. Picard, Janeway and Sisco were much more sensible in that respect. (I have seen only season 1 of ENT, so, not knowing what came later, I refrain from judging on that series.)

I think the same attitude (bragging, oversized ego, lack of common sense, lack of a sense for reality and its risks, overestimating one's abilities) is also what causes most road accidents, particularly among young people who lack experience and self-discipline.
The problem is: the majority of these accidents could theoretically be prevented but can't in praxis because of the only boundless quantity in this universe: human idiocy.
While it's comperatively easy to get people to quit nasty habits it is rather a hopeless case to try and get them to think. A thoughtless and inconsiderate person is usually fully reason-proof.