Costa Concordia owners sued over ship’s design
A US law firm is reported to be suing Carnival, the American owner of the Costa Concordia cruise liner shipwrecked off Italy this year, for allegedly leading its designers to sacrifice safety for profits.
AFP reports the Eaves law firm is suing for punitive damages in California over the design of the doomed ship and hoped that a win would see all similarly designed cruise ships declared unseaworthy.
Eaves, who said it is part of a collective of lawyers representing around 150 claimants from the Costa Concordia, said the ship’s design was fatally flawed “because it was top-heavy and had a propensity to roll”.
“The sad tragedy is the race to build the biggest ship with the shallowest hulls and room for the most passengers. When will it stop?
“We decided we must file this complaint to stop a race which is destroying safety,” said a spokesman for law firm.
“The ship’s shallow draught, the area below the waterline, made it unstable, so that it tilted quickly over and many lifeboats became useless.”
The 114,500-tonne ship ran aground on January 13 with more than 4,000 passengers from 60 countries on board. A total of 32 people died.
Ian Jarrett
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