29 Italian Cruise Ship Passengers Are Missing

It was a terrifying scene, lines of passengers making their way to rescue boats, going around a huge gash in the hull, waving for help as lifeboats dangled uselessly in the air.

Six passengers are confirmed dead and 29 people are missing, including a retired couple from Minnesota, after the Costa Concordia cruise liner capsized Friday night off the Italian coast.

Since Kay Everley of Sunshine Travel and Cruise in Palm Desert is in the business of booking cruises, she’s been closely following the developments in the waters near Tuscany where the cruise ship ran into a reef.

“There’s no easy explanation for any of it,” said Everley. “Obviously none of us knows. This is a fluke thing, sounds like captain error.”

And that’s exactly what the CEO of Costa Cruise Lines is saying. Pier Luigi Foschi isn’t buying the captain’s story, that nautical charts didn’t show the reef that sunk the ship.

“The captain decided to change the route and he went into the water. He did not know in advance,” said Foschi.

This news caught the attention of Arnold Lieman of Palm Desert, one of Everley’s regular customers. He returned a week ago from a Carribean cruise. From now on he says he’ll pay more attention to emergency drills the next time he boards a cruise liner.

“I always poo pooed it, you know, cause their mandatory. Everybody has to go and I always poo pooed it. But after reading what happened I’ll take it more seriously from now on,” said Lieman.

According to the Costa Concordia’s black box, the Italian Coast Guard wasn’t alerted until 10:43 p.m. and orders to abandon ship weren’t given until 10:50 p.m. — more than an hour and 15 minutes after the ship ran aground.

The captain is in jail facing possible charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. He’ll face a judge at a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Meantime, regardless of why the cruise liner ran a ground off the Italian coast, Lieman and his wife plan to take another cruise.

“We’re going again in May. Kay booked the cruise. We’re going to the Mediterranean this time,” said Lieman. “We’re going off the Italian coast, so, we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”