On the night of January 13th, a Cruise ship called Costa Concordia hit a rock that ripped a hole in the hull, although the route of the ship had been set electronically before it left the Harbor. The vessel was transporting more than 4,000 passengers. Following the tragedy, at least 15 people are reported dead, and the injured are countless.

According to the company the only cause of the shipwreck was a human error. Indeed it seems like the captain did a maneuver to navigate closer to the Tuscan Island for the beauty of the landscape. This very caring captain abandoned the ship with the crew and the passengers as soon as he understood that the boat was sinking.

He is now under custody with criminal charges and the shares of the Carnival Corp, which is the largest cruise operator worldwide, dropped after the disaster.

It is interesting to think now about the consequences of this tragedy. On the one hand for Costa Cruise and Carnival Corporation which hired Francesco Schettino, the man who had an inadequate behavior for a ship captain. But more importantly, on the other hand for the whole cruise industry, because potential passenger may now be scared to book a trip although this accident was due to the captain’s error. All safety and emergency response procedures and practices should be reviewed, as we can hardly believe that exactly 100 years after the sinking of the Titanic people can still die during a cruise.