Editor’s note: TF received the following letter from an Australian
survivor of the Costa Concordia shipwreck, who met with difficulties during the
rescue mission and who wishes that future missions are better organized for the
benefit of all. For details on the Costa Concordia accident off the Giglio
coast, see news in TF 155 and TF 156.
Dear Editor,
When we were
transported to the small island of Giglio following the sinking of the Costa
Concordia, it was apparent that the facilities available there could not handle
the needs of the 4,000 passengers on board. We spent the night in a small,
two-room schoolhouse near the jetty (in our evening attire), awaiting daylight
and the trip to the mainland, where we expected everything would be organized.
The accident happened at 9:42pm, and within an hour, all of Italy was aware of
the calamity. This is when the appropriate authorities in Italy should have taken control
of the situation. I believe their efforts could have been improved.
As an Australian, I
have seen how our country reacts in cases of natural disasters, such as the
recent tsunamis and earthquakes in Asia. Within hours, the Australian army is
mobilized and aircraft are loaded with supplies, doctors, nurses and professionals,
who are dispatched immediately.
I now believe that
a senior army officer with knowledge of logistics and a team of soldiers with
similar knowledge should have been sent to the port where the survivors started
to arrive on the car ferry from Giglio. No one should have been allowed to
depart but instead be transferred to a central area where each could be
processed. Only after processing, each person or party should have been allowed
to make his or her own arrangements. In this way, everyone would have been
accounted for.
We were told,
instead, that the first load of survivors departed on the car ferry-possibly in
the early hours of the morning-and I’m sure a lot of the passengers left on
landing and went their own way. Our small English-speaking group left in the
daylight, and when the car ferry reached the mainland, we were taken away and
deposited in a hall (possibly an army complex). On our arrival there were
soldiers in sight but no direct instructions were given, and we spent four or
five hours in this area with no information from authorities and no access to
telephones. At this point, the Australian authorities had listed us as missing.
Surely, it would
have been sensible to have the majority installed in a large hall with many
linguists available, and have some person in authority tell us what the situation
was.
After spending all
this time in the hall (again, I repeat, in our evening attire), with no idea
what was going on and no announcements in English, we decided to join the
slow-moving queue to board a bus, without knowing where it was going. Luckily
for us, it stopped at the Costa Cruise headquarters in Savona, and here staff
notified the Australian High Commission in London of our presence and
condition. They then made arrangements to fly us from Genoa to London.
I am well aware how
lucky I am that my partner and I are safe and well, and that the tragic event
meant the death for some innocent people and loss, sorrow and grief to those
they left behind. I therefore submit this account of rescue proceedings so that
past mistakes might be rectified in the future.
Yours respectfully,
Desmond McDermott
