Concordia worker describes blackness, chaos on sinking ship
(ANSA) – Grosetto, November 26 – Staff on the stricken Costa Concordia cruise ship were given only a 10-minute warning to escape before sea water would force them out, a courtroom heard Tuesday. Fiorella Silvana Panetti, a crew member on the ship, testified that an electrician on board warned that as lights were knocked out their opportunity was limited to get passengers safely off the sinking ship in the disaster that killed 32.
Panetti described the chaos as staff tried to help the 4,200 passengers get off the ship as it sank in January 2012 on the rocks of Giglio Island on the coast of Tuscany.
“The hallway where I was turned dark, there were no lights and I could hear people screaming,” she told the court during the trial into charges of murder and abandoning ship against captain Francesco Schettino for his role in the crash of the 450-million-euro cruise ship.
Medical officials and the deputy mayor from Giglio helped her onto a Coast Guard patrol boat at about 4 a.m., Panetti testified, adding that she is still feeling traumatized by the disaster.
Schettino has repeatedly insisted on his innocence and that he had prevented a worse disaster than what occurred.
He is suing to get his job back after being dismissed by Costa Cruises.
The disaster occurred when an allegedly rash maneuver by Schettino resulted in the Concordia hitting a rock reef as the ship sailed close to Giglio Island to “salute” local people.