it was women and children will be evacuated first. but, you know, we had had the boys in our group, they along with the male chaperones separated from us, and by that point, it was really getting chaotic. >> while alex stays calm, people all around her are losing control. >> my sister was hysterical. my best friend was hysterical. most of the other students were hysterical. >> a lot of chaos, a lot of fear, a lot of panic. you saw people fight for things, and i was getting kind of the last life jacket for our group, which happened to be alex's. there was a man behind us who was probably around 70 years old grabbed it out of her hand. >> alex finds another life jacket and as the evacuation is under way, passengers are told they have to traverse down a rope ladder. >> we had to climb down three or four stories. they told us not to look down, but, of course, once they tell you not to look down, you look down. so, as soon as you look down you kind of freeze for a couple seconds.