Salvage efforts set to begin for Concordia: Apostleship of the Sea continues ministry
to survivors
Salvage work is expected to begin later on Wednesday on the Costa Concordia, as hopes
fade for the 24 passengers who remain unaccounted-for. Rescue workers have combed
the area of the ship that remains above the water line. The salvage workers will begin
once an official end to rescue efforts is declared. Along with them, a specialist
team from Dutch salvage company SMIT is to start drilling through the ship towards
the 17 tanks that hold more than 2,000 tones of fuel. The captain of the Italian ship,
Francesco Schettino is under house arrest, accused of causing the crash.
The
story of the sinking cruise ship off Italy’s coast has made headlines across the globe
this week. The Catholic Apostleship of the Sea has been on hand to help passengers
of the Concordia, which was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and hundreds of crew
when it hit a bank of rocks off the island of Giglio in central Italy and capsized
Friday night. The chaplain onboard assisted shocked crew and passengers, including
those injured. The priest and parishioners of Giglio and the mainland have worked
round the clock to assist passengers, many of whom were given first refuge in churches
and schools. The local Italian chapters of the Apostleship of the Sea have been distributing
clothing and food and are providing spiritual and emotional support. Each year the
Apostleship of the Sea deploys chaplains on many cruise lines to support the pastoral
and practical welfare of crew and passengers.
Last year more than 700 cruise
chaplains provided 15,000 days of cruise chaplaincy across the world. Director of
Development of the U.K. based Catholic Apostleship of the Sea, John Green, remembers
another sea disaster – the sinking of a Russian cargo ship in the Irish sea late last
year – and how the Apostleship’s volonteers and religious were on hand to help in
any way they could. Listen to Tracey McClure's interview with John Green: