Carnival cruise captain abandons sinking ship

Carnival cruise ships are in hot water after their ship, the Costa Concordia, was steered askew and crashed off the coast of Italy Jan. 13. 

So far 12 individuals have died, and some are still missing while the search continues for more missing passengers. 

The ship set sail from Civitavecchia, Italy. A press release from Carnival reveals that there were roughly 4,200 passengers and crew on board the vessel.    

Perhaps the most scandalous part of this story, is the role the commander played in the accident. 

Francesco Schettino took all the wrong actions while directing his ship. 

Businessweek reports that the captain allowed for the ship to be taken off course and did not inform the Italian coast guard that they had changed course. 

Schettino is currently being charged with manslaughter as well as abandonment of ship charges for contributing to the accident, an Italian court case says.  

The loss of life in this accident does not represent the fun-filled commercials Carnival produces. When carelessness occurs, people's lives become at risk, and in this case a loss of life was the result.  

Perhaps the hardest part to believe in this story is Schettino was one of the first people off the boat.  He claims that he simply fell into a lifeboat because the ship was leaning at such a large degree.

Passengers were still on board when Schettino evacuated the vessel.  

This selfishness and irresponsibility has led to millions of dollars of loss for Carnival.

When boarding a gigantic vessel like a cruise boat, the main issue is safety.  People pay to have a carefree vacation. The last thing that they should be worrying about is if the captain is staying on the safest path to ensure their safety.  

An audio tape of a phone conversation between Schettino and the Italian coast guard, revealed the coast guard demanded the captain to get back on the ship.  Passengers still remained on the ship evacuating while the captain had made it to safety.    

The circumstances that led up to this terrible crash are devastating, no matter who the blame lies on, the fact of the matter is that because of carelessness a reported 12 people are dead and more remain missing.  

The captain remains on house arrest until more information is gathered.