ITALY/FILE: Emotional return for survivors ahead of Concordia tow

Record ID: 491460

  • Title: ITALY/FILE: Emotional return for survivors ahead of Concordia tow
  • Date: 19th July 2014
  • Summary: GIGLIO, ITALY (JULY 19, 2014) (REUTERS) SHORELINE, CONCORDIA WRECK OFF SHORE WRECK WITH DECK FIVE NOW VISIBLE SALVAGE WORKERS BY SPONSON CRANE AND SALVAGERS BY SPONSON SALVAGE WORKERS ON BOAT IN FRONT OF RE-EMERGED DECK FIVE EXTERIOR OF CHURCH WHICH HOUSED MANY SURVIVORS ON NIGHT OF ACCIDENT VARIOUS OF GERMAN SURVIVORS, ILSE MARI KISCHLAT, AND, HELMUT BUTTKUS, HOLDING HANDS AS THEY WALK TOWARDS CHURCH (SOUNDBITE) (German) COSTA CONCORDIA SHIPWRECK SURVIVOR, HELMUT BUTTKUS, SAYING: "The most critical moment for me was when we boarded the lifeboats and it went down along the side of the Concordia which was already tilted. It went down by two or three metres until the ropes reached their limit. They were not long enough, so they had to be disconnected and everything fell down sharply. I was watching the side of the ship sliding quickly and thinking that if the raft overturns it's all over for us, we will not survive."
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • City:
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA31RAFINQOHT2EZ61VRM92BYWK
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  • Story Text: Salvage workers on the Italian island of Giglio have been working around the clock to carry out final preparations on the wrecked Costa Concordia ahead of the cruise liner's final voyage to the port of Genoa where she will be broken up for scrap.
    According to a statement issued by the Concordia Wreck Removal Project at 1100 local time (0900gmt) on Saturday (July 19), an average floating of about six metres has been reached through the latest operations.
    Deck five of the giant cruise ship has completely emerged from the sea and about two metres remain for deck four to refloat, the salvagers said.
    As technicians carried out the salvage operations on the wreck, in Giglio port a German couple relived the events of the night the Concordia sank, killing 32 people.
    Shipwreck survivors Helmut Buttkus and Ilse Mari Kischlat had a lucky last-minute escape from the tilting luxury liner.
    "The most critical moment for me was when we boarded the lifeboats and it went down along the side of the Concordia which was already tilted. It went down by two or three metres until the ropes reached their limit. They were not long enough, so they had to be disconnected and everything fell down sharply. I was watching the side of the ship sliding quickly and thinking that if the raft overturns it's all over for us, we will not survive," Buttkus said outside the Giglio church just off the port that housed many of the survivors on the night of the accident.
    The husband and wife wanted to return to Giglio before the Costa Concordia is towed away.
    "I am here to say good-bye to the Costa Concordia, on which our second lives started," said Kischlat.
    "Many things from that night are coming back to my mind only now, that we are here in Giglio, despite the fact that we often speak about what happened," she added.
    Meanwhile, new footage was released of the interior of the wreck by the Grosseto court, shot by court inspectors gathering material for the trial of Concordia captain Francesco Schettino.
    Schettino is on trial accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.
    He is fighting the charges.
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