New footage of chaos on the Costa Concordia went viral and has been spreading like wildfire through the waves of YouTube.
“Previously unseen footage of the Costa Concordia crash has been aired on Italian television,” reads the caption of the video posted to YouTube on February 11.
The startling footage comes from January 13, when the Costa Concordia hit a rock and listed on its right side off of the small island of Giglio, near the coast of Tuscany.
The ship was carrying 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew members, 32 of which are dead or presumed dead.
Rescue teams spent the night and following days evacuating the ship that was holding thousands of people when it hit a sandbar and started to tilt during the “Titanic” like event.
Pictures and Video of cruise ship from Twitter
Most controversial of the incident was how the crew handled it.
As we previously reported, passengers interviewed by the Associated Press described the evacuation as “chaotic,” and some complained that the ship’s crew didn’t effectively outline evacuation instructions to passengers.
“It was so unorganized, our evacuation drill was scheduled for 5 p.m.,” Melissa Goduti, 28, of Connecticut told the AP. “We had joked ‘What if something had happened today?’”
But in a statement released on its website, Costa said evacuation started “promptly but the position of the ship has worsened, making it more complicated to complete the last part of the evacuation.”
Fingers pointed toward the captain of the luxurious cruise ship for causing the disaster. The captain, Francesco Schettino, was arrested and is being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship.
Audio of the captain refusing to reboard the vessel to help the evacuation after receiving orders to do so went viral and made matters worse.
PHOTO GALLERY: IMAGES OF THE CRUISE SHIP
While the investigation is ongoing, experts were called in to assess removing the ship and its fuel, which is projected to take up to ten months.
To appease, or more like enrage survivors, Costa Concordia is now offering them 30 percent off their next cruise with the company.
While many find the offer adds insult to injury, the cruise line feels differently.
“The company is not only going to refund everybody, but they will offer a thirty percent discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company,” a spokesman for Costa Cruises, which is also a subsidiary of industry leader Carnival Cruise Lines, said.
But instead of another cruise, the Costa Concordia vacationers filed a lawsuit against the company in January, which is located in Miami where Carnival is based. Survivors are seeking at least $528-million in damages.
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