RSS Feed
January 15th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
A South Korean couple who had been on their honeymoon were also rescued from
the cruise ship, which lies on its side in shallow water off the coast of
Giglio island, part of the Tuscan archipelago.
Investigators were analysing the ship’s “black box”, which logged the vessel’s
speed, distance and direction of travel, as well as conversations between
officers on the bridge, after it was recovered by divers.
Authorities said 15 people now remained unaccounted for.
The Concordia was at the start of a week-long tour of Mediterranean ports when
it hit a rock off Giglio on Friday night, forcing the evacuation of its
4,000 passengers and crew amid scenes of terror and panic.
The Foreign Secretary told Sky News: “We can say now, on the basis of the
information available to us, that all the British nationals involved are
accounted for and are safe.”
He added that a rapid deployment team had been sent from the UK to Italy.
“We are doing our utmost to look after everybody. They have been through
a very dreadful and distressing experience,” he said.
It is thought most of the 23 British passengers and 12 crew members made their
way to Rome after being rescued.
The Foreign Office is helping them organise emergency travel documents and
onward travel.
Mr Hague said officials were “not complacent” when cross checking
all details.
He said: “There may still be some other information that comes to light,
but based on all the phone calls we’ve had, the passenger lists, the people
that we’ve been able to track down, the British nationals – 35 British
nationals – are safe and accounted for.”
He added that consular staff were on the ground to provide support to
passengers, including those who have lost their passports.
“That’s part of what our rapid deployment team do.
“There will be assistance available to them at the airport and a
reception centre available to them at a Rome hotel.
“It’s primarily the responsibility of the cruise liner to arrange flights
for people back home but British embassy staff, British consular staff will
be around to assist people.”
Three people died after the luxury cruise ship ran aground on Friday night a
few hundred metres from the coast of the island of Giglio off the Tuscan
coast.
Amateur video captures terror felt by those evacuating the sinking ship
Police divers and rescue crews continued to circle the wrecked ship which
sustained a massive gash after crashing into rocks.
Today, crews in dinghies were touching the hull with their hands, near the
site of the 160-foot hull hole where water flooded in and caused the ship to
fall on its side.
Coast guard officials said divers will try to enter the belly of the ship in
case anyone is still inside.
Survivors said the terrifying, chaotic escape was like a scene from the
Titanic which went down 100 years ago.
Many passengers complained the crew did not give them good directions on how
to evacuate.
They also claimed that once it became clear it was an emergency there was a
delay lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many
to be released.
The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, and an officer were held and
questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of multiple manslaughter, abandoning
ship, and causing a shipwreck, state TV and Sky TV said.
Several other passengers said crew members told passengers for 45 minutes that
there was a simple “technical problem” that had caused the lights
to go off.
Angry passengers also claimed they never participated in an evacuation drill,
although one had been scheduled for yesterday.
Cruise bosses defended the actions of the crew and said they were co-operating
with the investigation.
Two of the dead were confirmed as French nationals and the third was confirmed
as Peruvian.
Some 30 people were said to be injured, two seriously.
Survivor John Rodford said staff gave him and his wife incorrect information
as the drama unfolded while they were dining.
“They said ‘No, it’s all right, it’s just a malfunction in the engines,”
he told Sky News.
“Then it started tilting the other way and the plates came off the tables.”
He said passengers scrambled for lifejackets and he and his wife slid across
the deck to find a lifeboat.
Mr Rodford said an evacuation drill was scheduled for the day after the cruise
went down.
Reliving his escape, he said it was “chefs and waiters” helping
passengers flee rather than officers.
He said: “The people who served us our dinner, were the people who helped
us get on the lifeboats and were manning the lifeboats.
“I didn’t see captains’ jackets and things like that. It was dinner staff.”
He added that when it came to getting him the “Costa people are far and
few between to be honest – very scarce”.
The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, told Italian television that he did
not expect the rocks to be in the area where the ship ran aground.
“I don’t know if it was detected or not, but on the nautical chart it was
marked just as water and some 100-150 metres (328ft-492ft) from the rocks,
and we were about 300 metres (984ft) from the shore, more or less.
“We shouldn’t have had this contact.”
The parents of two British dancers, who were working on the ship at the time
of the accident, yesterday spoke about their daughters’ ordeals as they
raced to flee the vessel.
Sandra Cook, whose daughter Kirsty had to get down a rope ladder on to a boat
to escape the listing Concordia, told BBC News: “I asked whether she
had anything, she’d lost everything, and she said that she was lucky to be
alive and very thankful.”
Another dancer, 22-year-old Rose Metcalf, was performing on the ship when the
incident happened and was one of the last to be winched to safety by a
helicopter, her father Philip said.
Mr Metcalf, who lives near Witchampton, Dorset, also told the channel: “The
ship rolled over on its side so they had to get a fire hose which they
strung between the railings to stop them falling overboard.
Rose Metcalf, a British Survivor from the Costa Concordia Cruise
“She thought she’d have to make a jump for it as it was dark and cold,
like the sinking of the Titanic, but the helicopter then winched her off.”
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.”
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
