Costa Concordia Victims Share Stories As The Cruise Ship Incident Completes 10 Years

The Costa Concordia, a huge, luxury cruise liner, had run aground off Giglio Island in Italy. It had toppled over into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, in a disaster that took the lives of 32 individuals.

Let’s see the story of  Umberto Trotti, 44 y/o male who was on his honeymoon onboard the cruise. There was no room for Trotti in the lifeboat that was carrying Fjorda, his wife, along with two children. But when he heard them panicking when the vessel got lowered into the water, he leapt 10-13 meters on the lowered lifeboat, landed on another person but finally managed to join his family.

The family was unsure if they wanted to go to Giglio to attend a ceremony on Thursday to mark 10 years of the disaster. Ship horns and church bells will be blown at 9:45 pm, the moment the luxury liner, owned by Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival, had struck an outcrop.

The liner had 4,229 guests from about 70 countries when it ran aground when many guests were having their dinner. Francesco Schettino, the ship’s captain, was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment for the shipwreck because he delayed sounding an alarm.

Evacuation started after an hour since the collision. Bu this time, lifeboats on a side were already unusable. Pictures taken later by a coastguard showed divers in a sunken restaurant, battling through flotsam, desperately searching for the victims.

Guests at the Vienna Bar had been enjoying pianist Antimo Magnotta, who had fallen off the stool when the vessel lurched. He soon found himself at a loss and surrounded by terrified guests wanting answers. In his book titled “The Pianist of Costa Concordia”, he mentioned reassuring passengers that the ship’s captain would make some announcement. But the moment never came. Soon the electricity failed and it became difficult to walk on the vessel, following which “hellish” blackouts started.

It had taken almost two years for the damaged vessel to be raised from the side before it could be towed for scrapping. The calamity brought about many changes in the cruise industry. It made carrying more lifejackets and holding emergency drills prior to departing a port mandatory. Even after a decade, the survivors feel grateful to have made it out alive.

Reference: euronews.com

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Source: Maritime Shipping News