It was January 13, 10 pm, when the Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise ship ran aground on rocks, off Isola del Giglio and began listing towards the side.

The MS Concordia was a 952 ft, 1 in long ship, 68 ft ,11 in longer than the other famous cruise ship sunk precisely 100 years ago, the Titanic.

The Concordia is not completely sunken yet.

Even today, five days after the initial disaster is moved about 9 centimeters; if the ship sinks before the fuel tanks are totally empty, the 2500 tons of fuel will pour the Mediterranean Sea, causing a huge ecological disaster.Still, the main disaster is from an human point of view.

There were around 4000 passengers that were on the Concordia at the moment of the accident. The total number of dead at today is 11, and there are still 23 people reported missing.

The day right after the accident videos made by survivors with their own and different stories were posted on the web.

“It was a nightmare,” were the words of a survivor, in one of the videos,  “We heard a hit. We were having dinner and everything started falling down, dishes, glasses. Water start to seep into the room, then on was just terrible. My kids were scared,” he said.“After the hit, the lights went off and back on, they told us it was just a blackout, there was something wrong and they were trying to fix it. They told us to calm down, everything was fine, but we knew it wasn’t,” added another survivor.

“No one knew what to do, we were left to ourselves, the only thing the staff was able to tell us was the word four, they were gesturing the number four to us. They meant we needed to go to the bridge number four. There was where the lifeboats were,” said one of the survivors in a video interview, “but that wasn’t the end. As we got on the lifeboat it got stuck because we were on the upper side of the boat and they couldn’t let the boats down, we ran to the other side and got on a lifeboat. It was a tragedy,” she  said, bursting into tears.

Why the cruise was so close to the coast is still uncertain, it might have been just for a sightseeing reason, but most likely the captain was sailing so close as a sign appreciation to an old captain that lives on the island, they call it  “making a bow” in the naval vocabulary.

The sad news was that the captain wasn’t even at home.

Where was the captain of the ship? Captain Francesco Schettino, while the Concordia was sinking down he was on a lifeboat, almost reaching the coast.
Schettino is now accused of multiple homicides and will be probably charged with fifteen years in prison.

On January 17, incriminating recordings of a call between Schettino and Captain Gregorio De Falco of the Coast Guard were released, revealing the portraits of two very different captains, a coward and a hero.

The first call is at 00.32, De Falco asked how many people were left on the boat, Schettino answered that there were just a 200-300 left, impossible, as the evacuation was just starting.
He added that he was on one of the bridges and promised he would be the last abandoning the ship.

Schettino was seen answering the phone from some rocks near the cost.

The second call is ten minutes later when he said to De Falco that he was coordinating the rescues on the ship, the suddenly added, “I can’t go on the ship again, I’ve left it.”
“Are you telling me you left the boat?” De Falco’s voice was now strong and furious, “No, no absolutely not,” Schettino said.

The next call is the one that really gets Schettino into trouble, confirming that he left the Costa Concordia before the ship was totally evacuated.
“You now go on the boat and you tell us how many people are left: if there are kids, women, passengers and the exact number of each category. Go back on the boat. What do you want to do? Abandon the rescues?” De Falco said, really loud, now he was mad.
“We can’t go back, the ship is sinking,” there was terror in Schettino’s voice.

“You get back on board! That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. You have sounded the “Abandon Ship.” I am giving the orders now. Get back on board, damn it. Is that clear?” were De Falco`s harsh words. “Listen Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Go on board, there are already some dead bodies,” De Falco yelled.
Schettino asked how many, “You should be the one to tell me.” was the cold answer from the official.

“Don’t you see that is dark? We can’t see anything,” said Schettino.
“And what do you want to do, Schettino? Do you want to go home?” are De Falco’s last words.