The basic story is now well known.  On the evening of January 13, 2012, while ‎many guests were at dinner, the Costa Concordia hit a reef off the coast of ‎Tuscany.  It’s been sitting in the water, on its side since then.‎

How it got there seems to be a somewhat mind-boggling story of ‎mismanagement, and doing most everything wrong:‎

• The ship was, deliberately, miles off course – the Captain wanted to ‎‎“salute” the near-shore Tuscan island, perhaps inspired by a similar ‎salute by another captain some time earlier. ‎
• When the ship hit the reef, it took over an hour for the command to ‎abandon ship to be given.  ‎
  
• People were given incorrect information in the meantime, which may ‎have contributed to the 17 deaths (plus another x still missing and ‎presumed dead).  ‎
  
• This was the first evening of the sailing since new passengers boarded, ‎and there had been no lifeboat drill yet –it was scheduled for the next ‎day. ‎
  
• The Captain and senior officers were found by the Coast Guard in one of ‎the lifeboats as the evacuation was still taking place, leading to a well-‎publicized and testy exchange where a Coast Guard officer told the ‎Captain to get back on the boat.  ‎
  
• The evacuation was reported by many sources to be quite disorderly ‎and chaotic, due at least in part, to the absence of senior officers to ‎calmly guide the situation. ‎
  

Early estimates indicate the cost to the company might be $100M, and the ‎insurance bill might be anywhere between $500M and $1B.  ‎The Captain, Francesco Schettino, will be up on charges in Italy.

The crisis has led to a number of relatively immediate problems:‎

• There was an urgent rush to find any lingering survivors among the ‎missing
• There is a possible environmental crisis if the ships fuel begins to leak ‎into the channel.  ‎
  
• The impact on Costa Cruise Line’s parent Carnival has already been a ‎significant share price drop
  
• The likelihood is that this accident will affect cruise line bookings at all ‎cruise lines in the short term, affecting everyone in the industry
  
• There is also the possibility that regulators may look at safety aspects of ‎the industry and demand improvements, driving up costs. ‎