Stories of survival from cruise ship disaster as search continues for those still missing
Posted January 15, 2012 10:27 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Survival stories continue to pour in from Italy and the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster, which saw more than 4,000 passengers and crew evacuated when the luxury cruise-liner ran aground Friday.
Five people have been confirmed dead while the search continues for an estimated 17 others who still remain unaccounted for.
Firefighters worked tirelessly over the weekend trying to find and rescue survivors, including one who was found in the overturned hull of the half-sunken vessel.
A honeymooning South Korean couple was also saved from the ship late Saturday, after firefighters heard shouting from within the hull.
Francesco Schettino, the captain of the ship, has been arrested and is being investigated for multiple counts of manslaughter and abandoning his ship.
Survivors say the scene on the boat was one of panic, with little direction offered when the incident began.
“It took us five tries on different boats to get on, my husband and I finally got on, we feel so fortunate that we made it on a boat because others didn’t,” one woman said.
Divers and rescue crews plan to continue to search for survivors within the belly of the ship and in the surrounding waters.
Of the three confirmed dead, two have been identified as Frenchmen while the other has been identified as a man from Peru.
The cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, was built in 2006 by Costa Cruises, which is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines.
The ship had left port for a seven-day cruise Mediterranean Cruise when it ran aground just north of Civitavecchia, which is the port city for Rome. The ship was heading north to Savona where it was to make its first stop.
