Pinoy Crew on Costa Concordia ship

[Dedworth]

MANILA, Philippines -- The government has to start helping all the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on board the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, recruitment consultant Emmanuel S. Geslani said in a statement.

The Costa Concordia ran aground off the island of Giglio and tipped over Saturday afternoon near the Tuscan coast.

Geslani said the Department of Foreign Affairs, through the Philippine Embassy in Rome and consulate offices in Italy, should immediately attend to the needs of the Filipino seafarers, and give the assistance needed for their return home to the Philippines.

Of the Costa Concordia's over 1,000 crew members, around 300 to 350 are Filipinos, who work as chambermaids, stewards, waitresses, bartenders, cooks and utility men.

According to Geslani, the OFWs were all deployed by the Magsaysay Maritime Shipping Corp., which is the exclusive agent of Carnival Lines, the operator of Italian cruise company Costa Cruicere.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-fi...concordia-ofws

To me these top heavy cruise liners look like a capsize waiting to happen. You wonder if cramming in the punters comes before safety.

[mickcant]

Am i right in thinking everyone got off safely?
I hope so.

The crew members need help to get home, and should not end up out of pocket
Mick.

[Dedworth]

Am i right in thinking everyone got off safely?
I hope so.

The crew members need help to get home, and should not end up out of pocket
Mick.

5 dead and about 17 unaccounted for.

The Italian Captain and First Officer are under arrest blaming faulty navigation equipment, they might well have been on the Pinot Grigio. Seems true to form they pulled on their white plimsolls and jumped ship leaving the passengers to fend for themselves

[Rosie1958]

Latest report shows a total of 15 people are still unaccounted for, including nine passengers and six crew members. The vessel had been carrying 4234 people, including British holidaymakers and pinoy crew members. I didn't realise that cruise liners were capable of carrying so many. I do hope that the 15 missing people are found as soon as possible

[grahamw48]

Shocking, and the unfortunate Filipinos were saying that they'd lost all their savings and personal possessions too.
I feel very very sorry for them and their families.

Of course they are of no use to the Philippines government until their remittances start flowing again.

[RickyR]

I can guarantee you, having worked for Carnival Corp, that the Filipino crew will be fully compensated and will be well looked after. The company is actually very good in that respect.

As for this accident, a very unprofessional Captain and poor application of Carnival Corp procedures. I can't say that a collision wouldn't occur onboard one of the British manned ships of Carnival corp, but it wouldn't have occured under the same situation and I guarantee that the emergency response onboard would have been much better handled.

As for the size of the Concordia, this is only a mid-size catagory ship.


Very sad loss of life, very unnecessary. Makes me so angry, and yet at the same time I feel physically sick.

[Dedworth]

I can guarantee you, having worked for Carnival Corp, that the Filipino crew will be fully compensated and will be well looked after. The company is actually very good in that respect.

As for this accident, a very unprofessional Captain and poor application of Carnival Corp procedures. I can't say that a collision wouldn't occur onboard one of the British manned ships of Carnival corp, but it wouldn't have occured under the same situation and I guarantee that the emergency response onboard would have been much better handled.

As for the size of the Concordia, this is only a mid-size catagory ship.


Very sad loss of life, very unnecessary. Makes me so angry, and yet at the same time I feel physically sick.

Ship owners now blaming the Captain

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...e-captain.html

[RickyR]

Italian News are saying that after the collision he denied to port control there was a problem, even after passengers had already called ashore and called the media. Then the Port Control called again and said why are your passengers wearing lifejackets and calling the media if there isn't a problem, and he still denied there was a problem. Finally after starting evacuation procedures he went ashore fairly early on headed off in a taxi, was traced and asked three times to return to the ship to help the evacuation and REFUSED.
The Italian media are branding him a coward.

Personally, as arrogant as it sounds, I think at the moment there are only the British, German and Dutch Officers who are qualified to operate cruise ships at the moment, no other country comes close in the standard of training and investment in nautical colleges.
Unfortunately the Philippine Officers are about to be blacklisted from European registered ships until they sort out their licensing process and corruption.

The Italians, more interested in girls and coffee then safety... Stereotyping I know, but I'm just a bit grumpy lol

[Pete/London]

The Italians, more interested in girls and coffee then safety... Stereotyping I know, but I'm just a bit grumpy lol

I was on a Italian cruise ship "Fairstar" some 35 years ago and some poncy Italian Purser tried to pull my wife at the bar. As I was worse for drink I apparently tried to throttle him and all hell broke out. He had been annoying me all week and I just snapped. Luckily it was the last night before docking at Southampton and the steward woke us up as we was the last ones to disembark, luckily without seeing anyone else.

[Dedworth]

Do they have lynch mobs in Italy ?

[South-east boy]

Says that it hit the rocks after an alledged 'salute' to locals by the ship's captain. He says that the rocks were not on the radar or shouldn't have been there etc and that he saved the lives of hundred's, thousands of people! Even if the rocks were not on the radar, why the hell was he so close to the island and not going down the middle in deeper water?!

[grahamw48]

Salvage company will be rubbing its hands together.

[Win2Win]

They've got to ge all the oil and fuel off her first before they do anything. As it cost about $5Billion + loss of earnings + compensation, the insurance company is going to take a hit!!

[grahamw48]

Probably Lloyds of London.

[jamieXXXmaria]

The captains pathetic excuse for leaving the ship was that he 'fell' into a lifeboat.

[Terpe]

The captains pathetic excuse for leaving the ship was that he 'fell' into a lifeboat.

Just happened to be the same lifeboat that many other senior officers also fell into

[grahamw48]

If it wasn't such a serious matter it would be comical, and references made to the Italians' habit of running away in the face of adversity.

[subseastu]

Fully agree with everything Ricky has said so far on this matter, no-one comes close to brit trained officers in the merchant navy even though all countries accepted by the IMo are supposed to be trained to the same standard. This just doesn't happen. The main problem is that alot of employers now consider brits to be too expensive and so bring in cheaper foriegners at the greater cost and risk to safety and life.

[Maria B]

talking about pinoy crew....Filipino crewmen of Costa Concordia praised for heroism

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...ed-for-heroism

[grahamw48]

Good to see that the Phils govt. is supposedly giving them some help too.

Let's see if the multi-millionaire politicians put their hands in their pockets.