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Costa Concordia disaster

disaster in which the cruise ship 'Costa Concordia' capsized and sank on 13 January 2012

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ1245004 ↗
Source-derived summary

On 13 January 2012, the seven-year-old Costa Cruises vessel Costa Concordia was on the first leg of a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea when the cruise ship deviated from her planned route at Isola del Giglio, Italy in order to perform a sail-by salute, and as a consequence struck a rock formation on the sea floor. This caused the ship to list and then to partially sink, landing unevenly on an underwater ledge. Although a six-hour rescue effort brought most of the passengers ashore, 32 people died: 27 passengers and five crew members. A member of the salvage team also died following injuries received during the recovery operation.

An investigation focused on shortcomings in the procedures followed by Costa Concordia's crew and the actions of its captain, Francesco Schettino, who left the ship prematurely. He left about 300 passengers on board the sinking vessel, most of whom were rescued by helicopter or motorboats in the area. Schettino was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Despite receiving its own share of criticism, Costa Cruises and its parent company, Carnival Corporation, did not face criminal charges.

Costa Concordia was declared a constructive total loss by the cruise line's insurer, and her salvage was "one of the biggest maritime salvage operations". On 16 September 2013, the parbuckle salvage of the ship began, and by the early hours of 17 September, the ship was set upright on her underwater cradle.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Costa Concordia disaster” is disaster in which the cruise ship 'Costa Concordia' capsized and sank on 13 January 2012. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Costa, Concordia and disaster, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2012, 2013—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Costa, Concordia and disaster is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “disaster in which the cruise ship 'Costa Concordia' capsized and sank on 13 January 2012” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1245004. Authority coordinates are 42.365, 10.922. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2012 and 2013.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Costa Concordia disaster”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Costa Concordia disaster primary sources, Costa Concordia disaster archive and Costa research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Costa Concordia disaster” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.