Bulgarian on Costa Concordia Tells about Harrowing Ordeal

Society | January 16, 2012, Monday // 12:50
Bulgarian on Costa Concordia Tells about Harrowing Ordeal: Bulgarian on Costa Concordia Tells about Harrowing Ordeal People at the shoreline and look at the listed wreck of the `Costa Concordia` cruise ship close to the harbor of the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, January 15, 2012. Photo by BGNES

People on the Costa Concordia cruise liner, which capsized off the coast of Tuscany in Italy Saturday, were pushing like animals, shouting, screaming and crying, according to Bulgarian Donka Todorova, who was among the passengers.

She says she managed to survive the icy cold waters due to her girlfriend, who had already been once in a similar ship incident.

"With her wee took off the high heels we were wearing for dinner, put our winter jackets on, took some lifejackets and went to the deck where we waited for an hour. I had only one small purse on me with my cell phone and my camera. Nothing else. Even my ID papers were back in the cabin. We were so scared that the thought to carry luggage never crossed our mind. We only wanted to survive. Then we boarded the lifeboat," Todorova, who lives in Italy, said, cited by the Bulgarian "Standard" daily.

She embarked on the cruise with another 300 Italian hair stylists to take part in a seminar to improve their professional skills in haircuts, hair styling and applying make-up. The first lesson, scheduled for Saturday, never materialized over the incident.

"This is my first and last time on a cruise. I hope they will reimburse us not only for the cost of the trip, because everything I had was left behind – luggage, clothes, papers," Todorova pointed out, further saying that a large number of passengers were evacuated in high heels, gowns, and formal jackets.

The Bulgarian woman is already back in Civita, Italy, where she lives with her family. She received a large number of phone calls from friends and relatives, worrying about her, because in the ordeal her cell phone battery died, and she managed to only get in touch with the closest family members.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Varna-based company Komak, which had worked for years with the Italian Costa, informed that another 2-3 Bulgarian women were likely to have been working on the liner as maids. They have been sent there through a company from Ruse in 2007, before Bulgaria's joining of the EU. The company was later closed, but the Bulgarians stayed there and signed contracts directly with the Italian owners.

According to official reports of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, eight Bulgarian citizens, were on board of the Costa Concordia cruise ship and all are safe and in good health. Todorova was the only passenger; the other seven were male members of the crew.

3 200 passengers and 1 023 crew members were on board at the time of the incident.

The luxury Costa Concordia ship ran aground in shallows some 300 meters away from the Tuscany Giglio Island. This led to a capsizing of the large vessel, after a 70 meter hole formed in the body of the ship, filling it with water.

The captain of the ship was arrested and charged with the murder of more than one person.

On Monday, the death toll rose to six, while fourteen are still reported missing.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Society » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Costa Concordia, ship, cruise ship, tragedy, accident, captain, Donka Todorova, Italy, Tuscany, sinking, evacuated, died, injured, missing, Bulgarian, crew, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Rome, consular office

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria