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The cruise ship Costa Concordia is sailing off Isola del Giglio for a planned seven-day cruise from Civitavecchia to Savona
The Captain turns off the alarm of the ship's computer navigation system
He's navigating by sight in order to approach the island coast and "greet" an officer
Despite of marine charts indicating that, the ship is still pointing the reef charted as "Le Scole" straight ahead
Captain Schettino sees waves breaking on the reef and turns abruptly
The order arrives too late; the veer produces a swing that exposes the left stern hull to the rocks
The initial impact point is 8 metres below water, which tears a 50-metre gash in the ship's port side below the water line
The force of the impact makes the ship yaw of 20° in counterclock wise direction and makes her lose speed
leaving a large rock embedded in her hull at the aft end of the impact gash
The tear covers at least 3 water tight chambers, incuding the two engine rooms
Anyhow it seems that the water tight doors were opened at the moment of the impact, allowing water to reach the adjacent compartments
The completely submerged engines goes to failure, leaving the whole ship without electric and propulsive power
The failure also causes the rudders breakdown, keeping the ship turning to starboard
Without propulsive power and on emergency electric power, the ship shifts her position only by means of inertia and rudders
Fortunate coincidence of winds and tides prevents the ship from sinking in the deep water surrounding Isola del Giglio
and causes the final grounding of the ship at Punta Gabbianara
The stern begins to sink, causing to the Costa Concordia a loss of stability
Arrived at the coast proximity the hull knocks with the sea floor, unbalancing the ship to the starboard side
The result is a sudden rotation of 90° degrees on her longitudinal axis
Once completely layed on her side the electric power fails permanently and the ship starts to slide through the ridge
Until she touches a small plain just before the deeper sea floor