Costa Concordia deaths are at the center of a new documentary look at the January 13, 2012, capsizing off Giglio Island, where 32 people died after the ship hit rocks and began taking on water. The film follows the delayed response that left guests and crew trying to understand what was happening as the vessel tilted.
The ship carried 3,206 guests and 1,023 crew members. Italy's Civil Protection Department described the disaster as the worst shipwreck of the modern era, and the documentary returns to the minutes that turned a sail-by salute near Tuscany into a mass evacuation.
Stefania Vincenzi in the dining room
Stefania Vincenzi was in the dining room preparing to celebrate her mother's 50th birthday when the impact came. She later said, "I should be at the restaurant singing her happy birthday, but now I am on Giglio Island sitting on the ground just wondering, 'Where is she?'"
Vincenzi waited two years before her mother's body was discovered. She also said, "I asked myself, 'Will I ever see her again?'" and added, "Costa Concordia interrupted my life."
Manoj Singh on the lower decks
Manoj Singh, one of 180 chefs aboard, described the jolt as "1,000 plates breaking (at) one time." After learning that a lower deck was leaking, Singh retrieved the cash he had stored under his bed. He also recalled telling a chief security member, "I have really important things to take," and hearing, "Nothing (more) important than your life."
The crew initially called the incident an electrical failure, even after the ship had struck rock and water was leaking into lower decks. Crew members were told about the leak after a roughly 45-minute delay, and passengers began cramming into lifeboats as the angle of the ship made movement harder.
John Scimone and the hallway
John Scimone, Meghan and Lila moved through what Scimone called an "effectively a 200-foot slide." He described the evacuation this way: "You're tumbling very awkwardly, barreling down this cross-section on our backs, furniture and just stuff all around us." Lila, then 14 months old, hit her head during the escape.
Manrico Giampedroni was trapped in an onboard restaurant with a broken leg for two days before a rescue crew reached him. Passengers also offered cash for a place in a lifeboat and shared their names and hometowns in a video recording, a sign of how quickly order broke down once the ship listed.
Francesco Schettino after Giglio Island
Francesco Schettino conducted the sail-by salute near Giglio Island off the coast of Tuscany on January 13, 2012, before the collision that led to the deaths. The documentary says he was later convicted, but it does not extend beyond that point. Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea streams on July 10.
