PG: Mr. Mayor, how did you get off the ship?
HS: I was one of the last passengers to get on the boat on the side of the ship, which was now in the water. And when I entered the boat, I only had to take one step into the boat because the ship was deep into the water.
PG: How long was it from the time that you heard the collision and put on your life jacket until you said, “This is silly I am going up to the deck.”
HS: It was maybe 40 minutes when I realized that the ship was sinking and there were no commands coming from the crew, who kept repeating that they were having a small generator problem. Most of the passengers made up their own minds to go on the deck.
PG: One of the lessons I’ve learned as a captain myself is that if are not in your cabin the last thing you want to do is to go back to your cabin. You need to go up to the highest deck and get a life preserver up there.
I’m assuming that when they do the post mortem on this that most of the people who died had gone back to their cabin to get their life preserver or because they were in their cabin and remained there.
HS: They found corpses in the cabin with their life jackets on. Also, a lot of lives got lost in the restaurant. I spoke to survivors who were in the bar and didn’t even get a chance to get a life vest and some that sat on the top of the ship until 4 am.
PG: Dr. Heinz Schaden. Let me say again, “Welcome home.”
Sounds off about Dr. Shaden’s experience in the comments below. Will passenger accounts like his affect the upcoming legal cases?
For more information on this incident, check out:
- Nicole Coward’s Legal ABCs of the Costa Concordia Shipwreck
- Peter’s CBS This Morning report on New Developments for the Costa Concordia
- Peter Travel Detective Blog, Beyond the Headlines of the Costa Concordia
- Cruise & Travel category
By Peter Greenberg for Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio.
Feature and bottom Image credit wikimedia user Rvongher
