A CRUISE watchdog group has linked the Costa Concordia disaster with a cosyrelationship between regulators and the industry.
The chairman and founder of the US-based International Cruise Victims Association, Kendall Carver, told Fairplay that he was not surprised about the fatal casualty.
There is a too-cosyrelationship between regulators and the industry, he said, accusing cruise lines of routinely hiring former officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the US Coast Guard.
That ship had been at sea for two hours, he pointed out, so its owner Costa Crociere should have known where it was via GPS tracking. Apparently this route has been taken before.
Livornos port would not comment on the incident when Fairplay called, and the Italian maritime law association would also not comment on the matter.
Carver also expressed deep concerns over Coast Guard delays on two key ship safety systems: a man-overboard system, and an anti-terrorist sonic system.
Both are legally required to be fitted to passenger ships but are yet to be implemented by the Coast Guard, declared Carver, who claimed credit for getting a US law enacted requiring that crimes at sea be reported. He said his group has evidence that serious crimes aboard cruise liners continue to be woefully underreported.
Carver said his own daughter disappeared aboard a cruise ship in 2004, but her disappearance was not reported to police by either the cruise company or its crew; no trace of her was ever found. A CRUISE watchdog group has linked the Costa Concordia disaster with a cosy relationship between regulators and the industry.
-- Edited by News Editor on Saturday 28th of January 2012 04:31:09 PM