“Aboard the Concordia, and fearing to lose our son.”

Anxiety, fear, the alarm. Then, there was an enormous sigh of relief and thanks for those who saved the children. Giancarlo De Bortoli and Barbara Gnemmi are from Malgesso and were aboard the Costa Concordia, the ship that sank off the coast of the Island of Giglio, on January 13th. With them, there were also their children, Riccardo, 5, and Sara, 3. After less than a week from the tragedy, they tell us about the frantic phases of the incident, about the lack of information, about the shock and, luckily, the happy ending of the event. "We went on a cruise to relax and take a break for a week – Giancarlo, 42, member of NGI, says – it was the present for my wife’s 36th birthday: unfortunately, she’s definitely not going to forget that soon. All was going well until that damned incident. We were in the theatre, waiting for the magician’s show; only Sara was with us, while Riccardo was at the Squok Club, the miniclub on board. At 21.30 we felt a shake and the ship inclined to the left; then, suddenly, the lights went out and we were in total darkness. On our side we heard plates and glasses falling to the floor, but nonetheless we kept our calm; the messages from the ship speakers were reassuring, as they talked about an electrical failure that was being solved that very moment. After 25 minutes we went out, while the guys from the miniclub took the children away. The staff were running back and forth, and, from the speakers, came the order to go to the emergency gathering point which we were given at the beginning of the journey: only the cruise director was talking, we never heard the captain.".

"There was water everywhere and we were extremely worried because only Sara was with us, and Riccardo was at the miniclub – Barbara says -. They gave us life-jackets and put us in front of lifeboat number 4, which was ours; we remained there for an hour and half without hearing a word from anybody. We grew more and more worried and I wanted to know where my son was, but nobody would answer me. There were only encrypted communications coming from the speakers, and we couldn’t understand them. Moreover, we only saw water and waves and we thought we were in the middle of the sea, while from the other gathering point, one could see the Island of Giglio’s reefs.". The disordered lines near the lifeboats grew every minute, while the crew would do their best to calm down the passengers. "At a certain moment, in Italian and English only, we were told to abandon ship – Giancarlo adds -. At that time, the part of the boat opposite to ours went underwater, and all the people came to where we were: the "women and children first" rule didn’t apply any more, among the shoves and rushes to the lifeboats.
Luckily, when the order to abandon ship was given, the guys from the miniclub arrived with the children, and they proceeded to hand them back to the respective parents in the points that were assigned at the beginning of the journey in case of emergency. They’ve been great, they kept the youngest ones calm, they made them play and tried to distract them. In particular, I’d like to thank Giovanni, the Squok Club’s coordinator, who managed to entertain the children with fancy dress and games, never leaving them alone, while the alarm was sounding on board.".

When they had to board the lifeboat, things were just as hectic. "Our lifeboat, by then, had been filled completely, so we then went abaft to look for an available one – Barbara and Giancarlo explain -. First we were walking, then we started running and we managed to reach the last available lifeboat, lifeboat number 13; we virtually climbed between the wall and the ship’s deck which by then was bent. However, the lifeboat, which had more than 200 people on board despite the maximum authorised number of 170, could not be lowered directly into the sea: we fell for 5/6 metres and we hit the ship’s border before reaching the water. There, we then discovered that the person who was supposed to be able to steer the lifeboat wasn’t actually able to do that; we kept banging everywhere, and against the other lifeboats. Then, luckily, we were able to reach land.". On the island, with only they clothes they were wearing when the alarm started sounding, that is, a button-neck sweater and a pair of jeans, the De Bortolis found shelter inside a church, and were tended to by a resident of the island, the on board maître’s mother. "She let us use her bed – Giancarlo and Barbara say -, where we put our children so that they could sleep. The woman told us that the cruise liner always used to pass near the shore, to celebrate captain Palumbo; this time, however, they saw that it was passing too near, they even noticed that from land. They were waiting for the ship for the "traditional" greeting, but they too were alarmed when they saw it so close. They even thought we were missing; luckily I had my mobile phone with me and I could tell home that everything was all right. The next day, we registered in the harbour, where we could really appreciate the rescue system, virtually perfect.

Less than a week after the Concordia’s sinking, there are still the images of those tragic moments. "We’ve lost everything – The De Bortolis explain -, our papers, our clothes, our baggage. I had my wedding dress with me – Giancarlo says -, but it was lost too. That’s not important. We are safe, and this is already a great result. If I think that there are, among the dead, people who perhaps have eaten alongside us, and played with our kids, I can’t stop the tears. We are a little worried about the children; the first days haven’t been easy, we hope that, as time passes by, their fear will disappear. Many things are being said about this event. We feel like we have to thank those people who tended to our children at their best. Costa Cruises has already phoned us twice to tell us that the refund is already available and to ask us whether everything was all right or we needed more support. Of course, it is very sad to read and hear certain things, like the phone call between the ship’s captain and the harbour-office. We are bewildered and baffled by such a behaviour. We trusted our safety in him and that’s how he repaid us. If we were asked today to go on a cruise again, we would politely decline; it’s nice, they cuddle and nurse you, but if something happens, we cannot have the certainty of being safe any more."