ITALY’S NOW famous coast guard will outline its handling of the Costa Concordia cruise ship sinking at an international conference in Dublin this spring.
At least 17 died and a dozen are still missing after the cruise ship ran aground last month 150m off the island of Giglio with 4,200 people on board.
The Italian coast guard has been invited to give the keynote address at the Search and Rescue 2012 conference in Dublin next month, which will attract coast guard representatives from across Europe and north America.
Ireland is hosting the conference for the first time as it is heading up the EU coast guard leaders’ network. The Irish Coast Guard’s Sikorsky helicopter fleet will give search-and-rescue demonstrations at an associated event in Weston Airport.
Irish Coast Guard director Chris Reynolds is chairing the EU network, and has been asked to prepare the ground for a permanent secretariat, which will be run by EU coast guard officers.
