Congress to consider cruise ship safety after Italian crash

By Keith Laing - 02/27/12 01:14 PM ET

Committees in both the House and Senate will hold hearings this week about cruise ship safety after a cruiseliner crashed in Italy last month.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation will take up the issue Wednesday at 10 a.m., and the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will meet Thursday at 10 a.m.

Both chambers had promised to revisit the issue of cruise safety after a ship, the Costa Concordia, crashed into a reef off the coast of Isola del Giglio in an accident that killed more than 20 people.

Congress passed a bill dealing with cruise safety in 2010, and the measure was signed into law by President Obama. But the legislation, the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, focused mostly on passenger behavior. It required cruise lines to provide video surveillance and medical personnel on board to deal with the possibility of sexual assaults.

The law also required cruise ships to be fitted with peepholes in passenger's rooms and side rails that were at least 42 inches high.

The measure did not address the responsibilities of cruise ship captains when accidents occur. The captain of the Costa Concordia, which Italian officials said was carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it crashed, is being prosecuted for allegedly abandoning the damaged ship.