Scottish Catholic Observer

The chaplain of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship which ran aground off the coast of Italy last Friday, played a leading role in helping to save passengers from the stricken vessel.

The cruise ship was carrying thousands of passengers and hundreds of crew when it hit a large rock off the island of Giglio. While initial fears were higher, as the SCO went to press 11 people had been declared dead and 24 were are still missing.

Chaplain’s account

Fr Raffaele Marina, 70, said he was ‘showered’ with distressed travelers after the accident because of the disorder caused by panic and the speed at which the water invaded the ship once it ran aground.

“The disorder was not the fault of the crew, but [caused by] panic, the fear among the passengers,” Fr Marina said. “Panic is what happens when someone realises at that moment his life is in danger.”

Speaking of the accident, he recalled that when he learned that the coup against rocks had opened a breach in the hull of the boat 70 metres he said: “Jesus, take care of us.”

Fr Giacomo Martino, the national director of the Apostleship of the Sea in Italy, praised the chaplain for his actions helping to save passengers.

“The work of cruise chaplains onboard is of great value to encourage and support crew and passengers at difficult moments,” he said.  “The crew worked to save passengers with great generosity and a spirit of selflessness.”

Parishioners at the Catholic Church on the tiny island of Giglio marked the disaster in their own way. At Mass on Sunday morning in Giglio’s main church, which opened its doors to the evacuees Friday night, altar boys and girls brought up to the altar a life vest, a rope, a rescue helmet, a plastic tarp and some bread.

Fr Don Lorenzo, the parish priest, told the faithful that he wanted to make this admittedly ‘different’ offering to God as a memory of what had transpired.

“Our community, our island will never be the same,” he told the few dozen islanders gathered for Mass.

Investigation

As the SCO went to press, the captain of the Costa Concordia was being blamed for the accident with the ship’s owners saying that he made an ‘unapproved, unauthorised’ deviation in course.

Costa Cruises boss Pier Luigi Foschi said initial reports suggested Captain Francesco Schettino had been sailing too close to nearby Giglio island in order to show the ship to locals and impress a crew member. The captain said the rocks the ship hit were not on his chart.

Captain Schettino awaits trial on accusations of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship. He returned to his home south of Naples on Wednesday, having been released from prison and placed under house arrest by an investigating judge. He had been held in custody in prison in Grosseto, in Tuscany, following his arrest on Saturday, hours after the cruise ship ran aground.

Survivors

Some of the rescued Costa Concordia passengers have described hearing a horrendous noise as the ship struck rocks at about 20:30 GMT on Friday. There were scenes of panic as alarms sounded soon after and the ship began to list.

Some of the passengers and crew were forced to swim for land as the angle of the ship made boarding life boats impossible. The 4200 passengers and crew on board had not conducted an emergency drill after leaving on its cruise several hours earlier.

One Irish couple had a particularly fortunately escape. Seamus and Carol Moore from Clonmel, County Tipperary, were on the cruise for a birthday celebration.

Mr Moore said he and his wife got into a lifeboat that was overcrowded.

“For me, it was particularly when the lifeboat half collapsed, because at that stage I thought we’re dangling over water,” he said. “We were either going to be kicked out, or it was going to break completely and fall into the water, and that would have been down a few storeys. My wife thought that when the ship fully lifted, that was when we were going to lose our lives.”

Fortunately they were able to climb onto the roof of the ship and scramble to safety.  One American Catholic also had a lucky escape and said she would never travel by boat again.

Melissa Goduti, 28, of Wallingford, Connecticut, had boarded the ship only three hours before with her 55-year-old mother Maria Goduti when they said they felt a massive jolt. “Everything I have is in that ship,” Ms Goduti said. This included the Rosary beads she and her mother purchased at the Vatican before boarding the Concordia in the Italian port of Civitavecchia on Friday.

Pic: PA