Accident on the “Costa Concordia”: “A commander was nowhere to be seen”

The “Costa Concordia” was once Italy’s largest cruise ship. Ten years ago it wrecked off the island of Giglio and partially sank. The helpers at the time say: None of the 32 dead should have died.

Mario Pellegrini is standing at the small port of Giglio – just like ten years ago. The manager of several restaurants points to the neighboring bay. There, says the 58-year-old, the “Costa Concordia” was lying there on the late evening of January 13, 2012: “It was immediately apparent that there was a big problem. This giant ship right in front of the island, on one Accumulated rocks – I was very worried. “

Pellegrini acted. While the captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, was being brought ashore, Pellegrini went the opposite way. The native Gigliese, then deputy mayor of the island, grabbed the first arriving lifeboat and drove over to the ship of the accident. “I then decided to go on board,” he says ARD studio Rome. Everyone was in a state of excitement, “a commanding officer was nowhere to be seen and I wanted to help”.

Pellegrini was the first to climb aboard. He saw how the once largest cruise ship in Italy turned on its side under his feet and the aisles inside the ship filled with water. With a rope, Pellegrini pulled around a dozen people out of a flooded elevator shaft and saved their lives.

A request without consequences

Earlier, at the headquarters of the coast guard in Livorno, officer Gregorio De Falco had tried by radio to persuade the captain, who had fled the ship, to return. “Go back on board,” said the angry De Falco Schettino and sent another swear word afterwards. But the captain, unlike volunteer rescuers like Pellegrini, stayed on land.

Schettino opponent De Falco sits in the Italian Senate today. Chosen, among other things, because the naval officer is a symbol of decent, conscientious Italy after the night of the accident. Even with a gap of ten years, De Falco is convinced: All 32 people who died in the “Costa Concordia” could still be alive. To the ARD studio Rome says De Falco: “If the reaction had been as prescribed, there would have been no problem for anyone.”

The saving shore – only 100 meters away

Because the wrecked ship was only about 100 meters away from the safe shore of Giglio Island. The deadly danger, explains De Falco, arose solely from the fact that the ship’s command called the passengers on deck 45 minutes late: “The impact on the rock happened at 9.45 p.m.. Five to ten minutes later it was clear that at least four areas of the ship were under water. ” Even at this point, says De Falco, the ship’s command should have called out the regulations after the emergency and got all passengers off board.

But it was only after 10:34 p.m., at the urging of the Coast Guard, that the alarm was officially raised. The leaked “Costa Concordia” lay almost completely on its side shortly afterwards, all lifeboats on starboard became unusable, inside the ship the flowing water turned passages and elevators into deadly traps.

At the pier in Giglio, the names of the 32 victims are engraved on a commemorative plaque. First aider Pellegrini will also be present at today’s commemoration. Some of the pictures from that night, he says, have stayed in his head to this day: “The children’s eyes, their faces, which were full of fear and tears. I don’t want anyone to see that.” These images, says Pellegrini, were burned into his memory.

Scrapped in Genoa

Today there is nothing left of the ship of the accident. Two years after the accident, the “Costa Concordia” was towed to Genoa and scrapped there. The parent company, the US company Carnival, claims to have paid each survivor 11,000 euros in compensation. There is no information about the amount of payments to relatives of the victims.

The then responsible captain Schettino is experiencing the tenth anniversary of the accident in the Rebibbia prison in Rome. The now 61-year-old has been sentenced to 16 years imprisonment, among other things for negligent homicide. In 2017, the judgment was confirmed in the last instance. According to Italian media reports, Schettino is considered a “model prisoner” in Rebibbia, having taken courses in law and journalism at a distance-learning university. With good management, the “Costa Concordia” captain could be released early in four months, in May.