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    Today in Tech

    View a haunting photo of the Costa Concordia shipwreck from space

    By Mike Wehner, Tecca | Today in Tech – Wed, Jan 18, 2012

    New satellite photograph helps put the disaster in perspective

    While the rest of the world ponders how the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship could have been steered into shallow, rocky water by a seemingly experienced captain, the vessel itself remains lodged just off shore near the Italian island of Giglio. And while there has been no shortage of photos of the ship snapped from land, the satellite gurus at DigitalGlobe decided to see what the wreck looks like from the reaches of space.

    The photo above was snapped with one of the company's two WorldView satellites — both of which offer amazing close-up shots of our planet. The amazing image shows the Concordia lying listlessly on its side like a beached whale, with smaller ships dotting the perimeter. It's a surreal sight, and remembering that the wreck has already claimed at least 11 lives gives it an even more somber tone.

    The Concordia ran aground on January 13 when it made a close pass by the island of Giglio and subsequently struck a reef. Both the coast guard and Costa Cruises — the owner of the vessel — has put blame solely on the captain, who reportedly ignored well-marked nautical map warnings and risked the lives of all 4,229 on board.

    [Image credit: DigitalGlobe]

    (Source)

    This article originally appeared on Tecca

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    • allison
      allison  •  3 mths ago
      Let's take a boat with 4000 people on it, and play chicken!
    • Joshua,M
      Joshua,M  •  4 mths ago
      114,500 tons of steel, almost two years of construction time, six massive diesel engines, countless man hours and pride put into her, all ruined by one wing nut.
      • THETIMEISNOW
        THETIMEISNOW 4 mths ago
        Now you know how security guards feel about the crazed middle-management contract boss!!!
      • Giada
        Giada 4 mths ago
        I'd count more than one wingnut, the corporation that hired him and endorsed the behavior. This wasn't Captain Courageous' first flyby of Giglio Island.
      • DijN
        DijN 4 mths ago
        yea, that's all it takes. WW2 took only 1 #$%$ too that massacred 1,000,000s!
    • MITT-FLOP
      MITT-FLOP  •  St Louis Park, Minnesota  •  4 mths ago
      When you go on a cruise, make sure you know your way around the ship right away. So you know where to go to get to the life boats and not get trapped below decks.
      • Yo
        Yo 4 mths ago
        finally a useful post, instead of the same political crap. get a life guys your not making political decisions for a reason
      • Read the tea leaves....
        Read the tea leaves.... 4 mths ago
        When you don't ever go on a cruise you don't worry about this. I never have, nor ever will, set foot on one of these norovirus incubating deathtraps.
      • WD
        WD 4 mths ago
        I was on the Costa Victoria, cruising the same area about 14 years ago, and the first thing we did with our English speaking guide was take a tour of the ship to familiarize ourselves with the life jackets and life boats. This is a well run cruise line, at least it was, so I think the captain is at complete fault for making a deviation off of course.
    • jj
      jj  •  4 mths ago
      earth to captain: the bottom gets more shallow the closer to land you get! idiot.
      • Skyramaenga
        Skyramaenga 4 mths ago
        that there, is a very awesome observation :) it's mostly true
      • Wallyboy
        Wallyboy 4 mths ago
        I agree but there were alot of idiots involved in this...seriously..alot of Italian
        cowards too.
    • Ms
      Ms  •  Fresno, California  •  4 mths ago
      I have to laugh at this captain the boat didn't even go under water and he jumped it before he knew all his passengers were off the ship. What a #$%$
      • Rik
        Rik 4 mths ago
        And to think, prior to being put aboard the Concordia as the Captain, he was a SAFETY OFFICER with the cruise line!
      • Wallyboy
        Wallyboy 4 mths ago
        No, you have it wrong..he knew his passengers were basically all still on board and
        he and his coward crewmates pushed the passengers off of their boat.
        Seriously,,this goes beyond anything I have ever heard or witnessed in my entire 65 years of life and I've heard and seen alot. But he wasn't the only coward..the whole crew were sissy boys.
        when told to get back onboard that the passengers were all on he refused, over and
        over and over. Italians...figures
      • Wallyboy
        Wallyboy 4 mths ago
        Whenever Captain Courageous is shown he doesn't look ashamed or sorry.
        He's always smiling..cause hes a still alivea!
    • nicksmom
      nicksmom  •  Charlotte, North Carolina  •  4 mths ago
      whats disturbing to me is to see the headlines "cruise crash will cost millions"- who gives a crap about cost when people have suffered a horrific tragedy and loss of lives.
      • BlabbyBob
        BlabbyBob 4 mths ago
        Where do you think the millions will be going?
      • K.
        K. 4 mths ago
        Not nearly as close to the survivors as it should. Insurance companies have actual risk tables where the monetary value of your life is specified, and they are not in the habit of giving more than they NEED to. The case will go through litigation, as it always does, and the lawyers will get their fat cut, as usual. Don't think Costa/Carnival won't fight as hard as they can to give them as little as possible without making a PR scene. That's business, baby.
      • Adrienn-Raluca A
        Adrienn-Raluca A 4 mths ago
        Yes but people will now be unemployed cause some nuts thought it was a good idea to jump overboard... [and yes, I know this post will receive lots of fire because 11 deaths is such a tragedy in a world where hundreds of people die every day due to cancer, famine, and other true disasters. ]
    • The Guffaw Conspiracy
      The Guffaw Conspiracy  •  4 mths ago
      If you use google maps and get Giglio Italia and zoom in to the area just north of the harbor, you can match up the two photos to where the legend on the google map indicates 200 feet. Then, considering that the ship is almost a thousand feet in length, it would appear that the ship is *exactly* the correct scale for the photographed coastline. Moreover, the lighting, shades, pixels and resolution for both portions of the "satellite" image are completely consistent with a single photograph. I can't find any evidence from this shot that the photograph has been photoshopped or is a fake in any way. I've also looked at this company's recent shots of the "newly discovered" Chinese aircraft carrier (of late) and have to conclude that the relative resolutions are consistent.

      This photo appears to be the real thing.
    • eerbeek
      eerbeek  •  4 mths ago
      I hope, now that he's all tucked in at home, that Captain Fabulouso and his officers are getting really good looks at the disaster they caused, the comments from all over the world, the efforts of the rescuers and dive teams, the names of the souls that perished, the reports of injuries, the descriptions of fear, the names and faces of the missing, etc.

      And then I hope they never sleep peacefully again.
    • Jim
      Jim  •  4 mths ago
      Very sad. So far it sounds like a horrible mess and a lot of cowards,,,
    • imautobot
      imautobot  •  4 mths ago
      Go to the Digital Globe website and call them lairs if you think this if fake. The rest of us got better things to do that hear stories about your paranoia. As if there is a conspiracy to fake a photo of something so amazingly public. Get a life!
    • Yo Mero
      Yo Mero  •  4 mths ago
      Haunting??
    • Joseph
      Joseph  •  Pharr, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      its not Photoshopped you knuckleheads the satellites this company has can take a picture of you sitting on your lawn drinking a beer and read the can its not like a blackbird flew over at mach 8 taking spy photos get out of the 70s
    • Marc Curcio
      Marc Curcio  •  Washington, District of Columbia  •  4 mths ago
      what an #$%$ hat, I hope he gets lots of prison time
    • Shadow wolf
      Shadow wolf  •  4 mths ago
      does this remind us of something wish I could say the titanic but its captain was a good 1 and went down with his ship when he could easily escaped death but the concordias captain was a bloody coward and was the 1st 1 off the ship
    • Boo
      Boo  •  4 mths ago
      Hey. Anyway you look at it, it's bad.
    • JamesS
      JamesS  •  4 mths ago
      Your left not my left!!!
    • MarioLemieux66
      MarioLemieux66  •  4 mths ago
      On such a high tech ship it would tell you the depth of the water that you're sailing in (as it does on every boat I've seen even low tech ships) so as the captain you should know how shallow you can go. This is definitely all the captains fault
    • Bad Pam
      Bad Pam  •  Lowman, New York  •  4 mths ago
      That's a great shot! And please, no jokes about Italians steering the ship.
    • HolyMan
      HolyMan  •  Boston, Massachusetts  •  4 mths ago
      The Law of the Sea dictates that the Captain be hung from the yardarm. That is the law of the sea.
    • Jordan
      Jordan  •  4 mths ago
      Sorry but you cant take a cruise ship on land in an attempt to go through the Mcdonalds drive thru..
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