I suppose there isn't much that is dramatic about the story below other than the people who told it are alive today. What did strike me is all the errors associated with the ship's evacuation. Being told to stay in their rooms, not being told to be dressed and to just take identification, the ropes painted to the side of the ship, crewmen who had no training on the operation of the lifeboat, etc. Some of the lessons I gathered from the story are:
- Provide plenty of warning for people and tell them what they need to be prepared to do
- Pre-stage people and equipment, just in case you need to take action
- Little things matter and quality control counts (painting of the ropes).
- Everyone (all staff) need to have some training for emergency situations
Tonight while riding the bus home I sat next to one of my friends and she told me this story:
Her parents were on the Costa Concordia. They are from here. They cruise a lot. They said the ship left Rome. They were already dressed to go to sleep--in their pajamas when the lights went out. The intercom system announced there was nothing to be worried about. Either before or after the ship tilted the passengers were told to go back to their rooms and/or stay in their rooms. When the ship tilted their ice bucket flew across the room and almost hit them in the head. Since they cruise a lot they realized they were in trouble so against the direction given, they decided to get off the ship even though they were being told to stay in their rooms. They were on the same deck as the life boats so they went to their life boat.
Once there they got in the lifeboat. The lines wouldn't move to lower their boat. They finally got the lines to work. I am not sure which lines these were but after they got in they found the next set of lines were attached to the ship. Someone painted the lines as they painted the ship and the lines dried stuck by paint to the ship. So, then they had to chip the paint away to free the lines. Again, this is January at night and her parents are in only their pjs. Her dad had no shoes on. Her mom in their panic at least grabbed her wallet. That's all they had.
Some German tourists were supposed to disembark at the next stop as at each destination tourists got on and off the ship. So, they were already packed. Some of them decided to get on the lifeboat with some of their suitcases.
They finally got the lifeboat in the water. There are two crew members who have no idea how to work the lifeboat. One was a cook and the other a steward. They tried to steer it and could only go in circles. No one on the lifeboat spoke a common language. So, they went in circles for over an hour until the passengers took over and steered them in a straight line to the shore. The shore was rocks.
People who couldn't get in the lifeboats either jumped in the water or some hung to the sides of the ship for 2 hours before someone got to them. 2 hours. One lady had a heart attack while swimming 600 feet to the shore. Mind you, there was no leadership, it was freezing cold, the water was cold and it was dark. The ship was semi-sideways--similar to the Poseiden Adventure (but Shirley whatever her name was didn't sing, "There's Got to Be a Morning After.") At the shore the swimmers trying to get on the island had another challenge as there weren't any sandy beaches to make it easy, there were only rocks.
Once on the island there were buses waiting. The bus they got on took them to a church where they were told to go in and sit on the very hard benches and wait. What penitence is this? No heat, no blankets and sounded like nothing to drink. Mom in pjs w/ no underwear, dad with no shoes. They sat and froze and were traumatized. They were then told to lie down on the benches to sleep--apparently the benches were really crowded. There was 1 bathroom. The only rug in the church was in front of a statue of Jesus. No one was brave enough to lie on the rug because the statue was one of the morbid suffering Jesus with thorn marks and blood dripping down it and everyone was too traumatized to add that statue to the evening. So, the only carpeted area was void.
At 4 am they were told to get on a bus for St. Stefano. They got there and the Red Cross gave them blankets. How many hours were they traumatized with no heat or blankets? After what sounded like the 4th bus ride they were then brought to a hotel. They were not the ones who were given hotels right away, taken in by families or who Italians brought coffee too. They said others had it worse than them.
In the US. my friend is woken up at 11:30 pm on Friday night by her brother. He was driving home from a soccer tournament with his wife and son when they heard a cruise ship in Italy was sinking. Her parents never told them the exact name of the ship but they knew the itinerary so they figured this had to be the ship. She looked up the cruise line on the internet and saw the main office was in Florida and at that time it would be 4 am and no one would be working. She somehow got a hold of the American Consulate or the Duty Office in Florence (I think that's what she said) who told her that no Americans had died. They didn't yet know that the Minnesota couple died. Her uncle in Virginia called to say he heard they were okay--this is now sometime Saturday. She didn't hear from her mother until Sunday. Her parents left Rome and it took them (to add insult to injury) about 16 to 18 hours to get home. Since her mother had her wallet and her credit cards she and her husband were able to buy clothes. Apparently, she got a lovely new purse at the Rome Airport.
They said no one on the ship knew what to do. There was no leadership. The two crew members on their lifeboat didn't know how to operate it and the fact that someone painted the lines to the ship was even more awful. Her father took video which was collected by National Geographic. They took video from the passengers to make a documentary that will air this Sunday. They interviewed passengers but her parents were at the consulate getting their papers done and missed the interview opportunity. Again, they said people were worse off than they were.
The story above was shared by Mike Martinet.
