Maritime Accidents in Passenger Ships and Derivative Liability: Costa Concordia and Sewol

Abstract

The recent accidents that have occurred in passenger ships at an international level, such as that of Costa Concordia (2012) in the Mediterranean Sea or Sewol (2014) in waters off South Korea, have shown first of all the responsibility in said claims of the crew and mainly of the ship's captain on the lives of the passengers. At the level of public opinion, the captain seems to be solely responsible for these incidents; However, over time we see how the responsibility is also usually addressed to other members of the crew, who end up being prosecuted in criminal proceedings. However, it is usual that the responsibility of other important stakeholders in the sector (shipping, classification society, maritime administration, etc ...) is reduced and even silenced, putting the focus as already mentioned in the malpractice of the crew and mainly of the Captain; in such a way that it is difficult for victims and relatives to file claims against them when such accidents occur, especially due to the amount of obstacles they encounter and the difficulty of litigating against companies with significant economic resources, unless they are constituted groups of affected people who sue them together to minimize costs. The cases mentioned, have had great media coverage and in both, the actions of the captains of Costa Concordia (Francesco Schettino) and Sewol (Lee Joon-seok), are just two years apart two clear examples of malpractice by of these officers on passenger ships that have cost the lives of a large number of people (32 of the Costa Concordia for 293 of the Sewol); but it draws attention as in accidents of this type, practically they are the only people to those who have been condemned, from the penal point of view and nevertheless practically the rest of people either of the crew or even of the administration in some cases they have not even been imputed. Through our work, we want to carry out a comparison of the responsibilities derived from both accidents, for each one of the involved actors and at the same time compare the consequences and the measures adopted by the justice in function of the country where the accident takes place. In addition, it is important to study the role of the rest of the crew in an emergency situation and how it can affect the development of the same; and how, however, the responsibility for them may not be entirely clear; highlighting the importance that research in maritime accidents acquires in these situations.