-
IP addresses are NOT logged in this forum so there's no point asking. Please note that this forum is full of homophobes, racists, lunatics, schizophrenics & absolute nut jobs with a smattering of geniuses, Chinese chauvinists, Moderate Muslims and last but not least a couple of "know-it-alls" constantly sprouting their dubious wisdom. If you believe that content generated by unsavory characters might cause you offense PLEASE LEAVE NOW! Sammyboy Admin and Staff are not responsible for your hurt feelings should you choose to read any of the content here. The OTHER forum is HERE so please stop asking.
Cruise ship sinking off Italian coast - like titanic
- Thread starter singveld
- Start date
Captain of capsized cruise liner held on suspicion of manslaughter as three die and 40 are missing... but two found in stricken vessel
Divers last night searching the Italian luxury cruise liner that capsized in the Mediterranean, pulled two people alive from the wreckage amid fears that more passengers were left trapped inside.
More than 4,000 people were rescued when the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Tuscany on Friday, leaving two passengers and a crew member confirmed dead. But last night up to 40 people were still missing.
The Concordia’s captain, Francesco Schettino, and first officer Ciro Ambrosio were detained last night at the police station in Porto Santo Stefano on the Italian mainland, as they faced continuing questioning about the events leading up to the disaster. Prosecutors are investigating possible charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning the ship while passengers were still in danger.
Italian media reported that a man and a woman had been located alive on board the stricken ship. It is said the survivors were on the deck levels above the water line and a team of firefighters had been sent on board the vessel to rescue them.
Prosecutor Francesco Verusio said the Concordia had approached the tiny island of Giglio ‘the wrong way’, while sources said that the 52-year-old captain, from Naples, had abandoned the ship at around 11.30pm local time – about an hour after it struck a rocky outcrop and started taking in water – while the last passengers were not taken to safety until 3am yesterday morning.
As the liner lay virtually flat on its starboard side last night, a 160ft gash visible on its upturned hull, rescue workers raised the possibility that there may still be bodies in the submerged section.
Fire services spokesman Luca Cari said specialist diving teams would ‘check all the interior spaces of the ship’ and added: ‘We don’t rule out the possibility that more people will be lost.’
One report said last night that 29 Filipino kitchen workers were feared trapped in the bowels of the 951ft, £390 million Concordia.
Last night concerns were raised about the chaos and confusion on board and the delays in evacuating the vessel.
It was also suggested that the passenger list may not have been kept up to date, which might account for some of those missing.
Recounting scenes reminiscent of the film Titanic, survivors spoke of crawling in darkness along upended hallways and stairwells as crockery and glasses smashed around them.
There were also reports of passengers wearing life jackets over evening dress jumping overboard into the cold, night sea and trying to swim ashore.
One of the most dramatic accounts of the night came from 22-year-old Rose Metcalf, from Dorset, who was among the last few people to leave the vessel.
Costa Concordia map
She was one of eight British dancers working on the Concordia and spoke of hanging on to a water hose which a friend had tied to the ship’s handrail when it began to list.
Later, after being rescued by helicopter, she left a message for her father saying: ‘I don’t know how many are dead. I am alive . . . just. I think I was the last one off.’ All 37 Britons on board were believed safe last night.
The ship was on a Mediterranean cruise starting from the Italian city of Civitavecchia with scheduled calls at Savona, Cagliari and Palermo, all also in Italy; Marseilles in France; and Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
As divers searched areas of the ship that were now underwater, there was some concern for their safety if the vessel shifted.
‘It is a very delicate operation because the ship might move or sink farther,’ said a spokesman for Italy’s coastguard. ‘This could endanger the divers, trapping them inside the wreck.’
Many of the passengers were sitting down to eat in the Concordia’s restaurants when they heard a loud bang followed by a ‘terrible groaning’ noise.
Diners were instructed to remain seated even as the ship began listing. According to the captain, the ship had an electrical problem. But although it soon became clear that the problem was far worse, passengers continued to be told for a good 45 minutes that there was a simple technical problem.
Even when the situation became clearer crew members delayed lowering the lifeboats even though the ship was listing badly. ‘We had to scream at the controllers to release the boats from the side,’ said Mike van Dijk, a 54-year-old from Pretoria, South Africa. ‘We were standing in the corridors and they weren’t allowing us to get on to the boats. It was a scramble, an absolute scramble.’
Robert Elcombe, 50, from Colchester but who now lives in Australia, said he and his wife Tracy got into a life boat – but were ordered out again when staff said it was ‘only a generator problem’ that could be fixed. He said: ‘But as we got back inside the ship it tilted so steeply that I had to grab hold of people to save them as they flew down the corridor. It was real Titanic stuff. We lost everything: passports, luggage, money. But at least we’re alive, unlike some
Georgia Ananias, 61, from Los Angeles, recalled crawling along a hallway as the ship began to upturn. She said an Argentine couple handed her their three-year-old daughter, as they were unable to keep their balance. ‘I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn’t hold her. I thought that was the end and I thought they should be with their baby. I wonder where they are.’
Passengers Alan and Laurie Willits from Ontario said they were watching the magic show in the ship’s main theatre when they felt an initial lurch, followed a few seconds later by a shudder.
They said the ship then listed and the theatre curtains seemed like they were standing on their side. ‘And then the magician disappeared,’ said Mr Willits.
When he left the stage it panicked the audience members who fled for their cabins.There were reports last night that captain Schettino, had been dining with passengers when the accident happened – but the ship’s operating company, Costa Crociera, said he was on the bridge.
He then discovered that the ship was four miles off course, but was unsure why. One theory is that an electrical fault had wiped out the ship’s navigational power and steering control. Captain Schettino told investigators that charts showed he was in waters deep enough to navigate.
He was quoted as saying: ‘The area was safe, the water was deep enough. We struck a stretch of rock that was not marked on the charts. As far as I am concerned, we were in perfectly navigable waters.’
Francesco Paolillo, a coastguard commander, said the vessel ‘hit an obstacle’, ripping a gash across the left side of the ship, which started taking on water. He said the captain tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio’s small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier.
But when Captain Schettino realised the severity of the situation, he gave the order to abandon ship with seven short whistles.
Within minutes the Costa Concordia, began to list dramatically, reaching an angle of 20 degrees in just two hours. The angle became too steep for lifeboat evacuation, and instead, five helicopters from the coastguard, navy and air force airlifted the last 50 passengers still aboard.
By early morning, nine hours after the incident, the Costa Concordia, was at an angle of more than 80 degrees.
Officials last night said the dead were a Peruvian crew member and two French tourists.
One Italian passenger said: ‘There was just utter chaos and panic. No one from the crew seemed to know what they were doing.
‘No one counted us, neither in the life boats nor on land,’ said Ophelie Gondelle, 28, a French military officer. She said there had been no evacuation drill since she boarded on January 8.
The evacuees initially took refuge in schools, hotels and a church on the tiny island of Giglio, about 18 miles off Italy’s west coast. Mayor Sergio Ortelli issued an appeal for ‘anyone with a roof’ to open their homes to survivors. By yesterday afternoon they had all been flown to the mainland.
Divers last night searching the Italian luxury cruise liner that capsized in the Mediterranean, pulled two people alive from the wreckage amid fears that more passengers were left trapped inside.
More than 4,000 people were rescued when the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Tuscany on Friday, leaving two passengers and a crew member confirmed dead. But last night up to 40 people were still missing.
The Concordia’s captain, Francesco Schettino, and first officer Ciro Ambrosio were detained last night at the police station in Porto Santo Stefano on the Italian mainland, as they faced continuing questioning about the events leading up to the disaster. Prosecutors are investigating possible charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning the ship while passengers were still in danger.
Italian media reported that a man and a woman had been located alive on board the stricken ship. It is said the survivors were on the deck levels above the water line and a team of firefighters had been sent on board the vessel to rescue them.
Prosecutor Francesco Verusio said the Concordia had approached the tiny island of Giglio ‘the wrong way’, while sources said that the 52-year-old captain, from Naples, had abandoned the ship at around 11.30pm local time – about an hour after it struck a rocky outcrop and started taking in water – while the last passengers were not taken to safety until 3am yesterday morning.
As the liner lay virtually flat on its starboard side last night, a 160ft gash visible on its upturned hull, rescue workers raised the possibility that there may still be bodies in the submerged section.
Fire services spokesman Luca Cari said specialist diving teams would ‘check all the interior spaces of the ship’ and added: ‘We don’t rule out the possibility that more people will be lost.’
One report said last night that 29 Filipino kitchen workers were feared trapped in the bowels of the 951ft, £390 million Concordia.
Last night concerns were raised about the chaos and confusion on board and the delays in evacuating the vessel.
It was also suggested that the passenger list may not have been kept up to date, which might account for some of those missing.
Recounting scenes reminiscent of the film Titanic, survivors spoke of crawling in darkness along upended hallways and stairwells as crockery and glasses smashed around them.
There were also reports of passengers wearing life jackets over evening dress jumping overboard into the cold, night sea and trying to swim ashore.
One of the most dramatic accounts of the night came from 22-year-old Rose Metcalf, from Dorset, who was among the last few people to leave the vessel.
Costa Concordia map
She was one of eight British dancers working on the Concordia and spoke of hanging on to a water hose which a friend had tied to the ship’s handrail when it began to list.
Later, after being rescued by helicopter, she left a message for her father saying: ‘I don’t know how many are dead. I am alive . . . just. I think I was the last one off.’ All 37 Britons on board were believed safe last night.
The ship was on a Mediterranean cruise starting from the Italian city of Civitavecchia with scheduled calls at Savona, Cagliari and Palermo, all also in Italy; Marseilles in France; and Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
As divers searched areas of the ship that were now underwater, there was some concern for their safety if the vessel shifted.
‘It is a very delicate operation because the ship might move or sink farther,’ said a spokesman for Italy’s coastguard. ‘This could endanger the divers, trapping them inside the wreck.’
Many of the passengers were sitting down to eat in the Concordia’s restaurants when they heard a loud bang followed by a ‘terrible groaning’ noise.
Diners were instructed to remain seated even as the ship began listing. According to the captain, the ship had an electrical problem. But although it soon became clear that the problem was far worse, passengers continued to be told for a good 45 minutes that there was a simple technical problem.
Even when the situation became clearer crew members delayed lowering the lifeboats even though the ship was listing badly. ‘We had to scream at the controllers to release the boats from the side,’ said Mike van Dijk, a 54-year-old from Pretoria, South Africa. ‘We were standing in the corridors and they weren’t allowing us to get on to the boats. It was a scramble, an absolute scramble.’
Robert Elcombe, 50, from Colchester but who now lives in Australia, said he and his wife Tracy got into a life boat – but were ordered out again when staff said it was ‘only a generator problem’ that could be fixed. He said: ‘But as we got back inside the ship it tilted so steeply that I had to grab hold of people to save them as they flew down the corridor. It was real Titanic stuff. We lost everything: passports, luggage, money. But at least we’re alive, unlike some
Georgia Ananias, 61, from Los Angeles, recalled crawling along a hallway as the ship began to upturn. She said an Argentine couple handed her their three-year-old daughter, as they were unable to keep their balance. ‘I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn’t hold her. I thought that was the end and I thought they should be with their baby. I wonder where they are.’
Passengers Alan and Laurie Willits from Ontario said they were watching the magic show in the ship’s main theatre when they felt an initial lurch, followed a few seconds later by a shudder.
They said the ship then listed and the theatre curtains seemed like they were standing on their side. ‘And then the magician disappeared,’ said Mr Willits.
When he left the stage it panicked the audience members who fled for their cabins.There were reports last night that captain Schettino, had been dining with passengers when the accident happened – but the ship’s operating company, Costa Crociera, said he was on the bridge.
He then discovered that the ship was four miles off course, but was unsure why. One theory is that an electrical fault had wiped out the ship’s navigational power and steering control. Captain Schettino told investigators that charts showed he was in waters deep enough to navigate.
He was quoted as saying: ‘The area was safe, the water was deep enough. We struck a stretch of rock that was not marked on the charts. As far as I am concerned, we were in perfectly navigable waters.’
Francesco Paolillo, a coastguard commander, said the vessel ‘hit an obstacle’, ripping a gash across the left side of the ship, which started taking on water. He said the captain tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio’s small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier.
But when Captain Schettino realised the severity of the situation, he gave the order to abandon ship with seven short whistles.
Within minutes the Costa Concordia, began to list dramatically, reaching an angle of 20 degrees in just two hours. The angle became too steep for lifeboat evacuation, and instead, five helicopters from the coastguard, navy and air force airlifted the last 50 passengers still aboard.
By early morning, nine hours after the incident, the Costa Concordia, was at an angle of more than 80 degrees.
Officials last night said the dead were a Peruvian crew member and two French tourists.
One Italian passenger said: ‘There was just utter chaos and panic. No one from the crew seemed to know what they were doing.
‘No one counted us, neither in the life boats nor on land,’ said Ophelie Gondelle, 28, a French military officer. She said there had been no evacuation drill since she boarded on January 8.
The evacuees initially took refuge in schools, hotels and a church on the tiny island of Giglio, about 18 miles off Italy’s west coast. Mayor Sergio Ortelli issued an appeal for ‘anyone with a roof’ to open their homes to survivors. By yesterday afternoon they had all been flown to the mainland.
Two passengers have been found alive on the submerged cruise ship Costa Concordia, more than 24 hours after it ran aground off the Italian coast.
The South Korean couple, who were on their honeymoon, were found in a cabin, but 40 more of the 4,000 on board are still believed to be missing.
The captain of the Costa Concordia has been detained for questioning, as police investigate why the accident happened in calm conditions.
Three people are so far confirmed dead.
Two French passengers and a Peruvian crew member died, and another 30 people were injured, two seriously.
The South Korean couple was located after rescuers heard voices from a cabin two decks down on the half-submerged ship late on Saturday, and they were reached a few hours later.
The man and woman, both 29 years old, were both said to be in good condition when they were brought ashore.
Meanwhile, divers are continuing to comb submerged parts of the ship, which is lying on its side close to a coastal island.
The vessel, which is operated by Costa Cruises, had sailed from Civitavecchia near Rome on Friday on a regular weekly Mediterranean cruise when it ran aground.
The president of Costa Cruises, Gianni Onorato, said the main task for the company was now to assist survivors and help repatriate them.
He said it was difficult to determine what had happened, but that the ship had experienced a blackout after hitting "a big rock".
He said normal lifeboat evacuation had become "almost impossible" because the ship had listed so quickly.
Francesco Schettino, the 52-year-old captain, had worked for Costa Cruises for 11 years.
The chief prosecutor in the city of Grosseto told reporters that Capt Schettino "very ineptly got close to Giglio", according to Italy's Ansa news agency.
A large gash can be seen in the hull of the Costa Concordia as it lies on its side about 200m (650ft) off Giglio island.
Shaken
Italian, German, French and British nationals were among the 3,200 passengers on board. There were also 1,000 crew.
Coast guard captain Cosimo Nicastro told Italian TV that divers had carried out an extensive search of the waters near the vessel and found no further bodies.
Some passengers were rescued by lifeboat, helicopters plucked to safety some who were trapped on the ship, and others jumped from the ship into the cold sea.
A school and private homes took in the passengers and crew. On Saturday the survivors were taken by ferries to Porto Santo Stefano on the mainland, about 25km (15 miles) away.
The BBC's Alan Johnson's at the scene says many arrived there still wrapped in blankets, and some were clearly very shaken by what they had endured.
Passenger Luciano Castro told Ansa news agency: "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."
Some passengers told the Associated Press news agency that the crew had failed to give instructions on how to evacuate the ship.
Titanic comparisons
"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.
Several passengers compared the accident to the film Titanic, about the sinking of the giant ocean liner in April 1912 which claimed more than 1,500 lives.
The precise number of those who remain unaccounted for is unclear.
Late on Saturday local official Giuseppe Linardi said up to 41 people were missing.
He said some might still be housed in private homes on Giglio.
About 40 people are being treated in hospital.
"I can easily understand the comparisons to the film, how it must have been on the Titanic, or in a fiction film," passenger Francesca Sinatra said.
Some "tens" of British passengers are believed to have been on board, said the UK Foreign Office, which has sent a team to the area.
The South Korean couple, who were on their honeymoon, were found in a cabin, but 40 more of the 4,000 on board are still believed to be missing.
The captain of the Costa Concordia has been detained for questioning, as police investigate why the accident happened in calm conditions.
Three people are so far confirmed dead.
Two French passengers and a Peruvian crew member died, and another 30 people were injured, two seriously.
The South Korean couple was located after rescuers heard voices from a cabin two decks down on the half-submerged ship late on Saturday, and they were reached a few hours later.
The man and woman, both 29 years old, were both said to be in good condition when they were brought ashore.
Meanwhile, divers are continuing to comb submerged parts of the ship, which is lying on its side close to a coastal island.
The vessel, which is operated by Costa Cruises, had sailed from Civitavecchia near Rome on Friday on a regular weekly Mediterranean cruise when it ran aground.
The president of Costa Cruises, Gianni Onorato, said the main task for the company was now to assist survivors and help repatriate them.
He said it was difficult to determine what had happened, but that the ship had experienced a blackout after hitting "a big rock".
He said normal lifeboat evacuation had become "almost impossible" because the ship had listed so quickly.
Francesco Schettino, the 52-year-old captain, had worked for Costa Cruises for 11 years.
The chief prosecutor in the city of Grosseto told reporters that Capt Schettino "very ineptly got close to Giglio", according to Italy's Ansa news agency.
A large gash can be seen in the hull of the Costa Concordia as it lies on its side about 200m (650ft) off Giglio island.
Shaken
Italian, German, French and British nationals were among the 3,200 passengers on board. There were also 1,000 crew.
Coast guard captain Cosimo Nicastro told Italian TV that divers had carried out an extensive search of the waters near the vessel and found no further bodies.
Some passengers were rescued by lifeboat, helicopters plucked to safety some who were trapped on the ship, and others jumped from the ship into the cold sea.
A school and private homes took in the passengers and crew. On Saturday the survivors were taken by ferries to Porto Santo Stefano on the mainland, about 25km (15 miles) away.
The BBC's Alan Johnson's at the scene says many arrived there still wrapped in blankets, and some were clearly very shaken by what they had endured.
Passenger Luciano Castro told Ansa news agency: "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."
Some passengers told the Associated Press news agency that the crew had failed to give instructions on how to evacuate the ship.
Titanic comparisons
"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.
Several passengers compared the accident to the film Titanic, about the sinking of the giant ocean liner in April 1912 which claimed more than 1,500 lives.
The precise number of those who remain unaccounted for is unclear.
Late on Saturday local official Giuseppe Linardi said up to 41 people were missing.
He said some might still be housed in private homes on Giglio.
About 40 people are being treated in hospital.
"I can easily understand the comparisons to the film, how it must have been on the Titanic, or in a fiction film," passenger Francesca Sinatra said.
Some "tens" of British passengers are believed to have been on board, said the UK Foreign Office, which has sent a team to the area.
Hope they find a replacement cruise ship for you. Think of bright side, it could be on board, you could lose all your belonging.
My Italian friends recommend Lake Como as well. In fact, the Como suburb in Perth Australia is named after Lake Como.
Venezia = Venice??
Enough of that place.
I took a train north to Venice before in my last trip to Italy south (Naples, Roma, Sorrento, Capri, etc ....)
My hotel (Principle) was just 5 mins walk from the station. I visited in May too to avoid the tourist crowd. Still I spent 5 days there (too many days!!!) and had time to get myself lost. I took detours from following the Rialto signposts. haha.
Ended up escaping to Burano, Murano and Lido for day trips. Too many vaporetto rides had bad effects on my balancing. The bakery in Burano even remembered me because I visited the island twice. (that asian guy with an angmo gf) The plants grown there reminded me of Mediterranean-climate Perth
Saw a few PRC people living there as well, one even spoke to me in Mandarin in a gelato shop.
This time around, travelling with a different girl, my new wife
Last edited:
I am not optimistic because other cruise ships would be full? I had a good discount for the cruise.
What is scary is the cold sea water.
I have thought about this before,
Belongings can be replaced. We do not bring jewelry to Europe because of high crime. The most expensive thing will be the laptop, mobile and camera. And maybe some Milan shopping.
My bank will send replacement credit card to my next hotel and I get emergency cash.
I register with SmartTraveller to make it easy for Australia DFAT to identify me as Aussie and re-issue travel documents. They are suppose to help me. I paid so much tax.
Medical is taken care of. In some European countries, I can get free medical care using an Australian passport and Medicare.
ITALY
Your entitlements
The National Health Service (Servixio Sanitaria Nazionale) provides medical treatment at participating hospitals and clinics or authorised medical centres (conventionati). You are entitled to subsidised health care for a period of up to six months from your date of arrival. If you need medical treatment go to the nearest local health centre (Unita Sanitaria Locale—USL). The address of all USLs can be found in the telephone directory or by asking at police stations, tourist offices or hotels.
You will be covered for:
medical treatment, including specialist services at public or other authorised hospitals and clinics
treatment as a hospital patient in public and authorised hospitals only
immediately necessary dental treatment at public hospitals
What is not covered
You may need to pay for medicines, diagnostics and other tests.
Last edited:
A photo taken by Spanish passenger Carlos Carballa on board cruise ship as panicking passengers wait to be evacuated on Friday night Worried: Passengers wait to be rescued from the ship. Many reported difficulties in launching the lifeboats as the ship had listed so badly
Dry land: Jeong Hye Jim, left, and his wife Kideok Hanmarito talk to the press after they were rescued by Italian emergency services last night
Manrico Giampetroni is 57 and is the cabin service director. He was trapped for over 24 hoursMr Giampetroni is hoisted into the helicopter. He has a suspected broken leg
'Forget women and children first, it was every man for himself': Cruise liner survivors describe nightmare scenes as people fought to escape sinking ship
Survivors of the Costa Concordia have told of the panic and chaos as thousands of people desperately attempted to flee the stricken vessel.
Incredible stories of survival have emerged today from some of the 4,200 people on board the cruise liner which hit the rocks off the coast of the tiny Italian island of Giglio.
Fathers desperate to be with their families ignored the order that women and children should go first. There was even fighting between some passengers who tried to get on lifeboats.
Some people described it as being an 'every man for himself' situation.
The Foreign Secretary William Hague said today that all British passengers and crew on board have been accounted for and are safe.
It is thought most of the 23 British passengers and 12 crew members made their way to Rome after being rescued.
Eight British dancers were on-board the boat and were among the last to leave the sinking vessel, with many staying behind to help others to safety.
Among them was Rose Metcalf, who let her family know about the dramatic events in a message she left on her father's mobile phone at 3am. She said: 'Hi, Dad. Just ringing to let you know that I am alive and safe and got airlifted out of the cruise ship.
'I don't know what will happen – I don't know how many are dead. I am alive... just. I think I was the last one off.'
Her story is one of dozens of incredible tales which have emerged from people desperate to flee the stricken ship.
Ms Metcalf, who joined the dance group in October, was performing in the ship's restaurant when the disaster struck at just after 9.30pm Italian time.
Dressed still in her dance clothes, water started entering the boat and the lights went out.
She said: 'I dashed off to my cabin where I had dry clothes and put them on with a life-jacket.
'I went off to help calm the passengers and do a roll-call. People then started going into the boats.'
As the ship eventually began to list uncontrollably, she and four colleagues who stayed on board used a water hose to tie themselves to a handrail before being rescued by an Italian air force helicopter.
She said: 'By the end, there were about five of us and we were the last to get off. We were getting ready to jump off and swim for it.
'The boat was at 90 degrees. Then the helicopter turned up. Guys came down in harnesses and took us off.'
Ms Metcalf, 22, was then taken to an air force base in Tuscany. She telephoned her father Phil early yesterday morning to let him know she was safe, although after leaving the message it was more than six hours before they spoke to each other.
Mr Metcalf today revealed that at the time of the incident, his daughter was told by superiors to put on her cocktail dress and tell passengers the problem was only an electrical fault.
He told BBC Breakfast: 'Luckily she ignored them, because being one of the last five people off the boat she would have been stranded there with a dress on and without a life-saving vest.'
Mr Metcalf also said the dancer revealed that the captain had abandoned the ship in the early stages of the evacuation, leaving his staff onboard.
'Since the captain had left there was nobody, so everybody was left to their own devices hence some of the chaos, so obviously the crew took it upon themselves and decided in the absence of the captain to organise and try and help people.'
One dancer told of the moment she realised something was drastically wrong - while she was trapped in a box during a magic show.
Rosalyn Rincon, from Blackpool, said items from the stage suddenly fell on top of her.
The 30-year-old dancer, who is half Venezuelan, said: 'I was doing a routine in a magic show for the passengers.
'I was in the long box - like a coffin- on stage when I felt the ship run aground.
'I shouted to the magician- get me out get me out and he flipped a catch to release me .We ran to our cabins for our life vests.
'Everything on the stage had crashed onto the people watching the show and all the music had stopped it was eerie.
'My boyfriend is Italian and is one of the ship's engineering officers on board.
'He said that there had been a power black out not once but twice.
'There were 3000 passengers and 2000 staff and there were only lifeboats available on one side of the ship- that was the problem.'
She added: 'Like so many entertainers in Blackpool we work the summer shows in the town and then work the winters on cruise liners.
'I know this ship's route well - what I don't know is why it was so close to the shore.
'I can just count myself lucky.'
She phoned her mum Claire at 10.15pm on Friday to tell her the ship had hit something.
Mrs Rincon, 58, said: 'When she rang she was really upset, she was still on the boat, she said "mum, the boat’s sinking".
'I couldn’t catch everything she was saying, I heard her saying she had to get her things, her laptop.
'Then she said she had to go, she had to go to try and find her friends.'
Mrs Rincon said on Saturday morning she switched on her TV and only then did she realise how serious it was.
'I got another call at 7.15am from her boyfriend, he’s an engineer on the ship but was on leave in Italy.
'He said he’d managed to speak to her on one of her friend’s phones. She couldn’t ring on hers, it had gone.
'He said that she couldn’t get to a lifeboat. Apparently she had to swim to shore, she had a life-jacket and had to swim.' Mrs Rincon said her daughter did manage a brief call home later in the day.'She said her clothes were wet and all she had was a tinfoil blanket to keep her warm. She said she was ok and was just waiting to hear where they were going to be taken.
'I’ve got my finger crossed for all the other families, I hope things are alright for them too.'
Another dancer, Amelia Leon, 22, told how she was watching a film with her boyfriend in their cabin when she felt the ship rock to one side.
She soon realised something was drastically wrong when it did not rock back and seconds later the lights went out.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Ms Leon, who is related to a violinist who played as the Titanic went down - said she ran through corridors of screaming passengers to the deck and contemplated swimming to the shore in the pitch-black sea.
'I looked out to sea and it was so dark, all I could make out was the coast of the island, about 400 metres away.
'We were on the side which was tilting downwards and I remember asking myself: "Can I swim this if it comes to it? We were hearing about people who had jumped in the water but I couldn't see anything because it was so dark.'
Thankfully, the couple managed to board a lifeboat which took them about 10 minutes to get to shore.
Once on safe ground, they realised how lucky they had been as they could see the lights of the Costa Concordia going down in the water.
Another of the eight British dancers, Sarah Hudson, 22, from Warrington, escaped in a lifeboat, from where she phoned her family.
Ms Hudson said: 'I rang my Dad and said the ship's sinking but there is no problem and don't panic. They thought I was joking because it was Friday the 13th.'
Earlier on the ship, she hadn't immediately understood how bad the situation was. 'I didn't realise there was a problem until the water was coming about my feet. I thought that we had just hit a wave.
'I didn't think, until I was off the boat, that we could have died. Usually I am the first person to panic but because I had to calm the passengers, I convinced myself it was going to be all right.'
Her father, also called Phil, last night told how he and his wife Jennie had made contact with their daughter late on Friday.
Mr Hudson said: 'She rang us saying she was on a lifeboat but she was amazingly calm. She had to discard her shoes before she jumped. She told us not to worry and that she was safe.'
He added: 'She has lost all her possessions. Everything she had went down with the ship.'
Kirsty Cook, another British dancer, had to get down a rope ladder to get to safety on another boat.
Her mother Sandra said: 'Thank God she got off safely. She said that she was lucky to be alive and very thankful.'
Also on the vessel was retired accountant Brian Page, 63, who had paid £860 for a seven-day cruise. He was enjoying a seven-course silver service dinner when disaster struck.
He said: 'Soon everything was going everywhere – glasses, plates and cutlery. I was having to grip the table to stop it sliding away. The whole ship was rocking violently from side to side.'
Speaking of the panic on board, he said: 'People were screaming. Women and children were not getting priority at all.'
He added: 'I have lost everything including my passport. I only have the clothes I am wearing.'
A honeymooner also described the 'mad rush' to flee the stricken cruise ship.
British newlywed couple Ian and Janice Donoff were enjoying a magic show on the vessel when the lights suddenly went off and there was an 'incredible noise of scraping'.
He described the six-hour ordeal from when he arrived at the muster station to when he finally managed to board a life-raft and get to safety.
Mr Donoff said: 'On the Tannoy came over the message that it was a generator fault and the captain said, "Everything is okay", but I understood people were running around and going back to their rooms, getting their life-jackets, perhaps putting something a bit warmer on, which I did as well.
'We then had to wait some time before they did all the different safety noises to show that we should go to a muster station, which is where you get off onto a life-raft.'
The passenger told BBC News how the boat started to list 'quite dramatically' and it took some time for crew members to count the waiting people onto the life-rafts which hung beneath them.
He said: 'The ship was at such a listing angle, and imagine us up in the air, of course there was no gravity to take it down and the life-boats couldn’t be released, which meant we had to get back.'
Mr Donoff said he and his new wife then had to shuffle along the inside of the ship, which was almost at right-angles to the sea.
'And then panic got in when we realised we had to get out onto the side of the ship which was now nearly 90 degrees,' he said.
The evacuee described how they had to use a ladder to climb through a glassless window to get outside.
'But the problem was that the floor was so slippery,' he said.
'I don’t know what they use to make it so nice and shiny but with water splashed on it, it was like a skating rink.'
He went on to describe how passengers scrambled to go up the ladder one-by-one to get outside.
'It was a mad rush for just one ladder that was there so we could get out, and once we got out, rather precariously, we had to wait while the local lifeguards came out on their boat.'
Mr Donoff and his fellow passengers then used a rope-ladder to work their way along the side of the vessel.
He said: 'We had to go there on the side of the ship, bottom first, to one area, and then dangling down on the outer side of the other area to be helped into the life-rafts that was there.
'Once we could see the water and people we outside, it was fairly orderly, but it took time.'
The couple were among the last 100 people to leave the stricken ship, and they waited from 10.15 on Friday evening until 4.30am on Saturday to get rescued.
After getting to the island of Giglio, the were taken to the mainland by ferry, and then on to Rome
Survivor John Rodford, 46, said staff gave him incorrect information as the drama unfolded while they were dining. He and his wife, Mandy, 45, were celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary on the vessel.
The couple, from Rochester in Kent, had only been on board the Mediterranean cruise ship for seven hours before disaster struck.
Speaking at Heathrow airport in west London after flying back from Rome this afternoon, Mr Rodford explained how they first thought something was wrong when they were eating their dinner.
He said he heard 'a crunch', then his drink started sliding along the table.
The couple asked a crew member if there was a problem, but they were told: 'No, it's the engine.'
He said: 'Then the lights went out and came back on. And then it (the ship) started going the other way, and quite a lot the other way.
'All the plates were coming off the tables and smashing, and it was just like bedlam. Everyone was getting the life jackets, but they told us to stay. They said: "It's all right, it's under control".'
The couple explained how they first went to the side of the boat the furthest from the water to escape. But because the ship had listed at such an angle, the lifeboats could not be winched down.
Mr Rodford said: 'We all got in them, and we got so far down, but we had to get back out of them.'
His wife added: 'They were hitting the side of the boat. Normally they are hanging and they would release them down.
'But because the boat was like this (at an angle), as they were releasing the lifeboats they were hitting the side so they were stuck.
'I couldn't believe it. I was sitting in the lifeboat, and when I realised the lifeboat was going nowhere, we got out, but where the lifeboat had dropped, we had to climb out, so we had to climb and lower ourselves down.
'The men were trying to help the women down. I'm looking over the side and I'm thinking 'I'm going to have to jump in that water', and I hate the water.'
They described sliding down the corridors across the width of the ship to reach the starboard side, which was closest to the water.
Mr Rodford said: 'Through the middle of the boat, we could see the lifeboats, so literally as a slide we came through the boat to the other end.
'We went on one boat on top of a boat, and then down into another boat and within two minutes we quickly had to go because it (the ship) went down more then.'
The couple chose a cabin on the sixth floor without a window, because of Mrs Radford's fear of water, and their room was on the side of the ship submerged in the sea.
Mr Rodford joked: 'The little mermaid's got all my belongings. The lot!'
Asked if they would consider taking another cruise in the future, Mr Rodford said: 'I'm not going on a cruise again.' His wife added: 'Never, ever, ever.'
Giuseppe D'Avino, a pastry chef from Modena, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'There was a lot of panic, screams, children crying,' he said. 'Some passengers came to blows as they tried to get in the lifeboats.'
Also speaking to the newspaper, Fabio Costa, a crewmate, said: 'We were giving priority to kids and women and trying to leave the men until last, but they were not accepting it because it was their families.'
Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles was traveling with her sister and parents.
They all bore dark red bruises on their knees from the desperate crawl they endured along nearly vertical hallways and stairwells, trying to reach rescue boats.
'Have you seen 'Titanic'? That's exactly what it was,' she said.
'We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing,' her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61 said. 'We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls.'She choked up as she remembered the moment when an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship listed to the side.
'He said, "Take my baby", Georgia Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand. 'I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn't want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn't hold her.'
Her daughter Valerie whispered: 'I wonder where they are.'
Survivors of the Costa Concordia have told of the panic and chaos as thousands of people desperately attempted to flee the stricken vessel.
Incredible stories of survival have emerged today from some of the 4,200 people on board the cruise liner which hit the rocks off the coast of the tiny Italian island of Giglio.
Fathers desperate to be with their families ignored the order that women and children should go first. There was even fighting between some passengers who tried to get on lifeboats.
Some people described it as being an 'every man for himself' situation.
The Foreign Secretary William Hague said today that all British passengers and crew on board have been accounted for and are safe.
It is thought most of the 23 British passengers and 12 crew members made their way to Rome after being rescued.
Eight British dancers were on-board the boat and were among the last to leave the sinking vessel, with many staying behind to help others to safety.
Among them was Rose Metcalf, who let her family know about the dramatic events in a message she left on her father's mobile phone at 3am. She said: 'Hi, Dad. Just ringing to let you know that I am alive and safe and got airlifted out of the cruise ship.
'I don't know what will happen – I don't know how many are dead. I am alive... just. I think I was the last one off.'
Her story is one of dozens of incredible tales which have emerged from people desperate to flee the stricken ship.
Ms Metcalf, who joined the dance group in October, was performing in the ship's restaurant when the disaster struck at just after 9.30pm Italian time.
Dressed still in her dance clothes, water started entering the boat and the lights went out.
She said: 'I dashed off to my cabin where I had dry clothes and put them on with a life-jacket.
'I went off to help calm the passengers and do a roll-call. People then started going into the boats.'
As the ship eventually began to list uncontrollably, she and four colleagues who stayed on board used a water hose to tie themselves to a handrail before being rescued by an Italian air force helicopter.
She said: 'By the end, there were about five of us and we were the last to get off. We were getting ready to jump off and swim for it.
'The boat was at 90 degrees. Then the helicopter turned up. Guys came down in harnesses and took us off.'
Ms Metcalf, 22, was then taken to an air force base in Tuscany. She telephoned her father Phil early yesterday morning to let him know she was safe, although after leaving the message it was more than six hours before they spoke to each other.
Mr Metcalf today revealed that at the time of the incident, his daughter was told by superiors to put on her cocktail dress and tell passengers the problem was only an electrical fault.
He told BBC Breakfast: 'Luckily she ignored them, because being one of the last five people off the boat she would have been stranded there with a dress on and without a life-saving vest.'
Mr Metcalf also said the dancer revealed that the captain had abandoned the ship in the early stages of the evacuation, leaving his staff onboard.
'Since the captain had left there was nobody, so everybody was left to their own devices hence some of the chaos, so obviously the crew took it upon themselves and decided in the absence of the captain to organise and try and help people.'
One dancer told of the moment she realised something was drastically wrong - while she was trapped in a box during a magic show.
Rosalyn Rincon, from Blackpool, said items from the stage suddenly fell on top of her.
The 30-year-old dancer, who is half Venezuelan, said: 'I was doing a routine in a magic show for the passengers.
'I was in the long box - like a coffin- on stage when I felt the ship run aground.
'I shouted to the magician- get me out get me out and he flipped a catch to release me .We ran to our cabins for our life vests.
'Everything on the stage had crashed onto the people watching the show and all the music had stopped it was eerie.
'My boyfriend is Italian and is one of the ship's engineering officers on board.
'He said that there had been a power black out not once but twice.
'There were 3000 passengers and 2000 staff and there were only lifeboats available on one side of the ship- that was the problem.'
She added: 'Like so many entertainers in Blackpool we work the summer shows in the town and then work the winters on cruise liners.
'I know this ship's route well - what I don't know is why it was so close to the shore.
'I can just count myself lucky.'
She phoned her mum Claire at 10.15pm on Friday to tell her the ship had hit something.
Mrs Rincon, 58, said: 'When she rang she was really upset, she was still on the boat, she said "mum, the boat’s sinking".
'I couldn’t catch everything she was saying, I heard her saying she had to get her things, her laptop.
'Then she said she had to go, she had to go to try and find her friends.'
Mrs Rincon said on Saturday morning she switched on her TV and only then did she realise how serious it was.
'I got another call at 7.15am from her boyfriend, he’s an engineer on the ship but was on leave in Italy.
'He said he’d managed to speak to her on one of her friend’s phones. She couldn’t ring on hers, it had gone.
'He said that she couldn’t get to a lifeboat. Apparently she had to swim to shore, she had a life-jacket and had to swim.' Mrs Rincon said her daughter did manage a brief call home later in the day.'She said her clothes were wet and all she had was a tinfoil blanket to keep her warm. She said she was ok and was just waiting to hear where they were going to be taken.
'I’ve got my finger crossed for all the other families, I hope things are alright for them too.'
Another dancer, Amelia Leon, 22, told how she was watching a film with her boyfriend in their cabin when she felt the ship rock to one side.
She soon realised something was drastically wrong when it did not rock back and seconds later the lights went out.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Ms Leon, who is related to a violinist who played as the Titanic went down - said she ran through corridors of screaming passengers to the deck and contemplated swimming to the shore in the pitch-black sea.
'I looked out to sea and it was so dark, all I could make out was the coast of the island, about 400 metres away.
'We were on the side which was tilting downwards and I remember asking myself: "Can I swim this if it comes to it? We were hearing about people who had jumped in the water but I couldn't see anything because it was so dark.'
Thankfully, the couple managed to board a lifeboat which took them about 10 minutes to get to shore.
Once on safe ground, they realised how lucky they had been as they could see the lights of the Costa Concordia going down in the water.
Another of the eight British dancers, Sarah Hudson, 22, from Warrington, escaped in a lifeboat, from where she phoned her family.
Ms Hudson said: 'I rang my Dad and said the ship's sinking but there is no problem and don't panic. They thought I was joking because it was Friday the 13th.'
Earlier on the ship, she hadn't immediately understood how bad the situation was. 'I didn't realise there was a problem until the water was coming about my feet. I thought that we had just hit a wave.
'I didn't think, until I was off the boat, that we could have died. Usually I am the first person to panic but because I had to calm the passengers, I convinced myself it was going to be all right.'
Her father, also called Phil, last night told how he and his wife Jennie had made contact with their daughter late on Friday.
Mr Hudson said: 'She rang us saying she was on a lifeboat but she was amazingly calm. She had to discard her shoes before she jumped. She told us not to worry and that she was safe.'
He added: 'She has lost all her possessions. Everything she had went down with the ship.'
Kirsty Cook, another British dancer, had to get down a rope ladder to get to safety on another boat.
Her mother Sandra said: 'Thank God she got off safely. She said that she was lucky to be alive and very thankful.'
Also on the vessel was retired accountant Brian Page, 63, who had paid £860 for a seven-day cruise. He was enjoying a seven-course silver service dinner when disaster struck.
He said: 'Soon everything was going everywhere – glasses, plates and cutlery. I was having to grip the table to stop it sliding away. The whole ship was rocking violently from side to side.'
Speaking of the panic on board, he said: 'People were screaming. Women and children were not getting priority at all.'
He added: 'I have lost everything including my passport. I only have the clothes I am wearing.'
A honeymooner also described the 'mad rush' to flee the stricken cruise ship.
British newlywed couple Ian and Janice Donoff were enjoying a magic show on the vessel when the lights suddenly went off and there was an 'incredible noise of scraping'.
He described the six-hour ordeal from when he arrived at the muster station to when he finally managed to board a life-raft and get to safety.
Mr Donoff said: 'On the Tannoy came over the message that it was a generator fault and the captain said, "Everything is okay", but I understood people were running around and going back to their rooms, getting their life-jackets, perhaps putting something a bit warmer on, which I did as well.
'We then had to wait some time before they did all the different safety noises to show that we should go to a muster station, which is where you get off onto a life-raft.'
The passenger told BBC News how the boat started to list 'quite dramatically' and it took some time for crew members to count the waiting people onto the life-rafts which hung beneath them.
He said: 'The ship was at such a listing angle, and imagine us up in the air, of course there was no gravity to take it down and the life-boats couldn’t be released, which meant we had to get back.'
Mr Donoff said he and his new wife then had to shuffle along the inside of the ship, which was almost at right-angles to the sea.
'And then panic got in when we realised we had to get out onto the side of the ship which was now nearly 90 degrees,' he said.
The evacuee described how they had to use a ladder to climb through a glassless window to get outside.
'But the problem was that the floor was so slippery,' he said.
'I don’t know what they use to make it so nice and shiny but with water splashed on it, it was like a skating rink.'
He went on to describe how passengers scrambled to go up the ladder one-by-one to get outside.
'It was a mad rush for just one ladder that was there so we could get out, and once we got out, rather precariously, we had to wait while the local lifeguards came out on their boat.'
Mr Donoff and his fellow passengers then used a rope-ladder to work their way along the side of the vessel.
He said: 'We had to go there on the side of the ship, bottom first, to one area, and then dangling down on the outer side of the other area to be helped into the life-rafts that was there.
'Once we could see the water and people we outside, it was fairly orderly, but it took time.'
The couple were among the last 100 people to leave the stricken ship, and they waited from 10.15 on Friday evening until 4.30am on Saturday to get rescued.
After getting to the island of Giglio, the were taken to the mainland by ferry, and then on to Rome
Survivor John Rodford, 46, said staff gave him incorrect information as the drama unfolded while they were dining. He and his wife, Mandy, 45, were celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary on the vessel.
The couple, from Rochester in Kent, had only been on board the Mediterranean cruise ship for seven hours before disaster struck.
Speaking at Heathrow airport in west London after flying back from Rome this afternoon, Mr Rodford explained how they first thought something was wrong when they were eating their dinner.
He said he heard 'a crunch', then his drink started sliding along the table.
The couple asked a crew member if there was a problem, but they were told: 'No, it's the engine.'
He said: 'Then the lights went out and came back on. And then it (the ship) started going the other way, and quite a lot the other way.
'All the plates were coming off the tables and smashing, and it was just like bedlam. Everyone was getting the life jackets, but they told us to stay. They said: "It's all right, it's under control".'
The couple explained how they first went to the side of the boat the furthest from the water to escape. But because the ship had listed at such an angle, the lifeboats could not be winched down.
Mr Rodford said: 'We all got in them, and we got so far down, but we had to get back out of them.'
His wife added: 'They were hitting the side of the boat. Normally they are hanging and they would release them down.
'But because the boat was like this (at an angle), as they were releasing the lifeboats they were hitting the side so they were stuck.
'I couldn't believe it. I was sitting in the lifeboat, and when I realised the lifeboat was going nowhere, we got out, but where the lifeboat had dropped, we had to climb out, so we had to climb and lower ourselves down.
'The men were trying to help the women down. I'm looking over the side and I'm thinking 'I'm going to have to jump in that water', and I hate the water.'
They described sliding down the corridors across the width of the ship to reach the starboard side, which was closest to the water.
Mr Rodford said: 'Through the middle of the boat, we could see the lifeboats, so literally as a slide we came through the boat to the other end.
'We went on one boat on top of a boat, and then down into another boat and within two minutes we quickly had to go because it (the ship) went down more then.'
The couple chose a cabin on the sixth floor without a window, because of Mrs Radford's fear of water, and their room was on the side of the ship submerged in the sea.
Mr Rodford joked: 'The little mermaid's got all my belongings. The lot!'
Asked if they would consider taking another cruise in the future, Mr Rodford said: 'I'm not going on a cruise again.' His wife added: 'Never, ever, ever.'
Giuseppe D'Avino, a pastry chef from Modena, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'There was a lot of panic, screams, children crying,' he said. 'Some passengers came to blows as they tried to get in the lifeboats.'
Also speaking to the newspaper, Fabio Costa, a crewmate, said: 'We were giving priority to kids and women and trying to leave the men until last, but they were not accepting it because it was their families.'
Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles was traveling with her sister and parents.
They all bore dark red bruises on their knees from the desperate crawl they endured along nearly vertical hallways and stairwells, trying to reach rescue boats.
'Have you seen 'Titanic'? That's exactly what it was,' she said.
'We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing,' her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61 said. 'We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls.'She choked up as she remembered the moment when an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship listed to the side.
'He said, "Take my baby", Georgia Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand. 'I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn't want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn't hold her.'
Her daughter Valerie whispered: 'I wonder where they are.'
Similar threads
