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Costa Concordia Ship

January 14, 2012 by · Comments Off on Costa Concordia Ship 

Costa Concordia ShipCosta Concordia Ship, Several Britons are thought to be on board a cruise ship which ran aground off the Italian coast, leaving at least three people dead. The Costa Concordia hit a sandbar on Friday evening near the island of Giglio and listed about 20 degrees.

The Foreign Office said it was unclear how many UK nationals were among the 3,200 passengers. It has set up a phone line for people who are concerned about their relatives and is offering advice on its website.

At least 50 people have not yet been accounted for but Italian officials suggest that may be because the passenger list is not fully up to date.

‘Lucky to be alive’
Many people swam ashore or boarded lifeboats but rescue teams are still checking cabins.

A number of British entertainers and dancers are thought to be among the 1,000-strong crew.

Sandra Cook, whose daughter Kirsty was one of eight British dancers working on the ship, told BBC News she escaped by climbing down a rope ladder into another boat.

Mrs Cook said: “Thank God she got off safely and survived it.”

She said she had spoken to her daughter.

“I asked whether she had anything. She’d lost everything and she said that she was lucky to be alive and very thankful.”

Fabio Costa, who worked in a shop on the ship, told the BBC: “We were all working and all of a sudden we felt the boat hitting something and everything just started to fall, all the glasses broke and everybody started to panic and run.”

Travel journalist Simon Calder said: “There are echoes of that terrible disaster, 100 years ago this year – the Titanic.

“We’ve had stories of people jumping into the water and I dare say the behaviour of some people would have been informed by their visions of that awful night in the Atlantic.”

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