Dozens missing and 4,000 evacuated in ship disaster
PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy — Three people died and about 70 were missing yesterday after an Italian cruise ship with more than 4,000 people on board ran aground and keeled over, sparking scenes of panic.
The Costa Concordia was on a trip around the Mediterranean when it apparently hit a reef near the island of Giglio on Friday, only a few hours into its voyage, as passengers were sitting down for dinner.
Local officials also said at least 14 people were injured. Other sources spoke of about 40 injured, two of them seriously suffering from concussion and spinal injuries.
Around 20 people were rescued by helicopters, which scoured the sea with searchlights during the night-time rescue operation.
Some of the passengers jumped into the icy waters.
"There were scenes of panic like on the Titanic. We ran aground on rocks near Giglio island. I don't know how this could happen. The captain is crazy," Mara Parmegiani, a passenger, was quoted by Italian media as saying.
"We were very scared and freezing because it happened while we were at dinner so everyone was in evening wear. We definitely didn't have time to get anything else. They gave us blankets but there weren't enough," she said.
Linardi quoted Costa Crociere, the Costa Concordia's owner, as saying that 70 people out of the total 4,234 passengers and crew were still missing but they could be on the island.
The people on board
in- cluded some 60 nationalities and about 52 were children up to the age of six. Indian Mondal Mithun, 26-year-old restaurant manager on the Costa Concordia, who was on his first cruise, said: "We heard the ship hit the rocks but the alert only came after one hour."
Shocked passengers crammed into the island's few hotel rooms and a local church overnight. Hundreds were being transferred by ferry to the Tuscan resort town of Porto Santo Stefano, which is linked to the Italian mainland.
Luciano Castro, another passenger, was quoted as saying: "We heard a loud noise while we were at dinner as if the keel of the ship hit something." "The ship started taking in water through the hole and began tilting." Passengers had been initially told the ship had shuddered to a halt for electrical reasons, before being instructed to put on their life-jackets and head for lifeboats.
Francesco Paolillo, a local coast guard official, said there was a 30-metre hole in the ship but that it was too early to say what exactly had happened.
"We think this happened as a result of sailing too close to an obstacle like a reef," he said. The ship left the port of Civitavecchia near Rome on Friday at the beginning of the cruise and was headed for the port of Savona in northwest Italy. It was then scheduled to visit the French port of Marseille and Barcelona in Spain.
The cruise ship boasts 58 suites with balconies, five restaurants, 13 bars, five Jacuzzis and four swimming pools. — AFP