Costa Concordia Sinking: 10 Worst Cruise Ship Disasters [PHOTOS]

By Melanie Jones | January 16 2012 12:32 PM

Photo: Reuters

Ten Worst Cruise Ship Disasters

Six are confirmed dead so far in the wrecking of the Italian luxury liner, with 29 passengers still missing. But the Costa Concordia sinking isn't the worst accident on a cruise ship. From the fire aboard the SS Morro Castle to the sinking of the Titanic, here are the ten worst passenger ship disasters of maritime history so far.

Photo: Creative Commons

10. Norwegian Dawn

The Norwegian Cruise Line's luxury vessel was heading to New York from the Bahamas when it was hit by a freak 70 foot wave. Cabins were flooded and those as high as the tenth floor reported massive amounts of water from the unexpected wave. No injuries or casualties were reported.

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9. Oceonos

This Greek-owned vessel sank near the South African coast in 1991 after a storm caused the ship to list wildly from side to side, flooding the vessel and eventually sinking it. No one was killed, and all 571 passengers were saved.

Photo: Wiki Commons

8. Pacific Sun

The vessel was returning to Auckland, New Zealand when it ran into a violent storm some 400 miles off the coast in 2008. No death were reported, but over 40 people were injured due to the intense roiling of the liner, which literally flung people from one side of the cruise ship to the other.

Photo: uglyships.wordpress.com

7. Star Princess

A major fire broke out on board the luxury liner in 2006. The captain orchestrated an organized evacuation procedure, but the fire caused considerable damage to the ship owing the vessel's design and inefficient fire zone boundaries. One passenger, Richard Liffridge, 72, died of smoke inhalation. The fire was reported to be a cigarette left burning on the cruise ship's balcony.

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6. Louis Majesty

The Mediterranean cruise ship was hit by a series of rogue waves during a journey in 2010. The 26-foot tall waves collided with the vessel and flooded it. Two passengers were killed, and several others were injured.

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5. Club Royale

The luxury Casino cruise ship encountered a rogue storm from Hurricane Erin roughly 90 miles east of Port Canaveral, Fla. and sank in the summer of 1995. No passengers were on board, but only eight of the 11 crew members were saved.

Photo: Reuters

4. The Costa Concordia

The Italian luxury liner ran aground near the island of Giglia due to what passengers and local prosecutors are alleging was the fault of Captain Franceso Chettino and first officer Ciro Ambrosio. At least six people are confirmed dead, with more than 50 unaccounted for, in a ship of around 4,000 passengers.

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3. Royal Pacific Cruise

The Greek-owned Royal pacific cruise ship collided with a fishing trawler Terfu 51 in 1992 due to low visibility. According to marine Insight, crew members did not do enough to save passengers, and as many as 30 people died with 70 injured out of the 530 passengers on board.

Photo: Wiki Commons

2. SS Morro Castle

This luxury cruise ship from the 1930s is the story of one of the most gruesome ship fires in maritime history. The SS Morro Castle was on its way to New York when the ship caught fire. Due to the veneered wood surfaces of the ship, its glued ply paneling and openings in the fire doors, the flames spread quickly, and the crew had little firefighting equipment or skills to combat it. 137 people were killed, including many who chose to jump off the ship without knowing how to use the lifejackets on board.

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1. The Titanic

One hundred years later, the 1912 sinking of the Titanic remains the worst passenger ship disaster in maritime history. On her maiden voyage from England to New York, the "unsinkable" luxury liner hit an iceberg four days in, and a lack of lifeboats and chaotic evacuation procedures led to significantly increased casualties. 1,517 people of the just over 2,200 on board were killed in the tragedy.

Six passengers have been confirmed dead so far in the sinking of Italian luxury liner the Costa Concordia, with the captain of the cruise ship and its first mate under investigation by local authorities for manslaughter and for abandoning the vessel too soon.

In the continuing aftermath of the Concordia accident, many are comparing the tragedy to that of another infamous passenger vessel, the Titanic. One hundred years after the Titanic sank, issues with lifejackets and evacuation safety were still present during the sinking of the Costa Concordia.

But these two disasters are only two of the worst cruise ship sinkings, fires and other disasters, from the horror of the SS Morro Castle in 1930 to the freak storms that took on the Louis Majesty in 2010 and the Pacific Sun in 2008.

Click through our slideshow for a countdown of the ten worst cruise ship disasters since the Titanic, from fires and freak waves to massive flooding and even sinking. From the Cost Concordia in 2012 to the Titanic in 2012, here's everything you need to know about the maritime tragedies of the 20th and 21st centuries so far.