Many thanks for the link

Indeed should never have happened.
Human blunders at heart of ship disaster

Over-reliance on electronic navigation systems and a failure of judgement by the captain are seen as possible reasons for one of the worst cruise liner disasters of all time, maritime specialists say.
Industry experts say modern passenger ships such as the Costa Concordia, that ran aground off Italy's west coast at the weekend, are equipped with state of the art global positioning systems and collision avoidance radar tracking facilities. Nevertheless, the human dimension is still vital.......

This is truly a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who perished.

I skippered my own boat for many years. It was not quite the size of Concordia, but most of the dangers at sea were caused by humans, not rocks.

The press (and 'experts') complaining on reliance of electronic nav-aids is today misplaced: radar, Automatic Identification Systems and depth sonar all can see where the 'MK I Eyeball' cannot. Electronic chart plotters are usually more up to date than paper charts in the nav-locker. Ship autopilots backed by GPS keep ships away from danger and show off-course alarms, like the one for your hiking.

The rocks that Captain Schenetti hit are visible on Google Earth and are on all of the sea-charts. It will be interesting to see what the investigation shows. His only good decision was to turn the ship around immediatly, if it was his decision.

Costa Concordia death toll rises to 12 people video