Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20150302

You never get any rest because your brain ask constant ly asking you to revisit all of these horrible things. This that feeling of isolation, that feeling of being alone, that feeling of being lost. There are things that are bigger than you, that you cannot conquer on your own. Not even with love, not even with family. I survived the wreck of the Costa Concordia. All of this, it is the dream that they sell. A first class fivestar live, all to be lived while sailing for so many exotic locales. All you got to go is step on a cruise ship, and soon the world just disappears on the horizon. Hi, im josh elliott. The passengers who two years ago boarded the con eded Costa Concordia, 4,000 passengers and crew, bound for 4 of europes most beautiful cities. But they would soon be all looked in a life and death struggle to escape. This is the story of six who did. Tonight youll hear in their own words, with stunning detail and heart stopping images what happened that terrible, tragic night, aboard the ship that had it all. I had never seen a ship this big, just to the size of it, like how does a human being build Something Like this . Eded like a hotel. It was huge and it was beautiful. Marble floor, wood panelling, theres brass and glass and all sorts of different on men taegs. We got on to the Costa Concordia on january 9 at barcelona. It was my honeymoon with ben smith. My aunt wanted to see yimp with her his and a few of my friends, and theyre from hong kong, so they wanted someone whos fly weduid in english and italian and a little bit of everything so she would make a really good guide all over europe. She said, i want toal tell you something really cool. My aunt is going to pay for our sevenday cruise ship, were going to paris, and its really good because its free and. And he looked at me. He just looked at me. Shes kind of the spontaneous half of our relationship. Al i had to slow down for a second. I need to think things through. After the sudden shock of spochb ten theyity of the trip. Life on board was very exciting, we got to dance, perform, got applauded by the audience. We got to explore foreign lance. All these gizmos and gadgets was a real privilege. Emily had been on a cruise before, she told me theres always a drill, you stand knicks to your lifeboat and you practice what would happen if there was a life threatening scenario. And we sat through essentially what was a sales presentation, and we didnt two any of that. They said oh, theres a card on the back of your door, and theres a booklet in your cabin that tells you all of the safety information. I thought it was unusual because it was expecting a drill, when it didnt happen, we shrugged our shoulders and said, thats weird and we went about our business and enjoyed our honeymoon. We were told facts about the trip, and we had to learn such in detail, such as the fire zones, the water zone and what we were expected to do in an emergency situation. I made a point of learning all of these far beyond family what any of my colleagues did. I was told that in an emergency i would go to my muster station, its a Meeting Point for a group thats assigned to either a lifeboat or a life raft. The crewmembers i was responsible for would come and meet me at that muster station and i would take their names off a register and i was actually shocked to discover that i was responsible for anything on the ship, and literally just because i was one of the very few English Speakers on board. Coming up, something was about to the go horribly wrong. We heart this soft scraping noise. Wine bottles were falling off the shelves. It was shaking violently. We had just two friends at our wedding, they came from boston and cambridge. And then we sent that video to all of our family and friends and that was kind of our way of announcing, hey, everybody, guess what . Were married. Boarding the Costa Concordia and so beginning their honeymoon. It was a whole new life for Benjamin Smith and emmy lau. Little did they know it would be a struggle to sure. On january 13, 2012, as night felt upon fell upon a perfect day. We arrived at port around 7 00 in the morning and took the train into rome, so we got to the vatican around 8 00 in the morning and planned the rest of our day. We saw the pantion and the fountains and we ate lunch at a bakery and we went to the coliseum, so we went all around rome. I spent a small amount of time guiding my relatives around. I took them to the vatican and then i said, lets meet back here in flee hours. So they went off to do Different Things and benji and i just wandered around rome on foot. Emily had a camera and she was taking my picture over and over again. She said you look really good in this afternoon light. This was late in the day, around 4 00 in the afternoon, and the evening light was really nice. We got back on the boat, and we were so tired that we desaidcided we would go straight to dinner. And we did not have any wine because we were so tired. I love to trial. Steve doesnt particularly like to travel. But cruising is the one thing we like to do together. We had been in rome 20 years previously for our wedding. We wanted pictures of the vatican. He actually looked at me and he said to me, do i need to put on a suit jacket . And i said, oh, no, no, its just casual tonight. First night, well just go to dinner, you know. And so he went to dinner in a short sleeved shirt, his jeans and no suit jacket, which really would have came in handy had we have known. That night we barely got on the boat. We got back light from rome. So we went straight to dinner. After dinner, we had made plans to go to a show and then go dancing afterwards. My job when not perform was to have photographs taken with the passengers, we had a very decorative sometime decorative style outfit andity any of the passengers that would see us in the show could have a photograph with us. So i had done one hour of my duty and i had an hour break. So i was up many passenger area wearing a cocktail dress, very glamorous, with stilettos on. I had one more hour of photographs to go and i was feeling a little bit tired so i went to the bar with two of my friends to have a coffee before i had to go back to work. I was feeling a little feverish, we had had a long, long day back in rome. And i went back to the cabin to do some reading and just relax. When i got back to the state room, benji was reading quietly. I took out the camera and we looked at the all the photographs we took that day in rome. We laughed about how silly we looked and how much fun we had. It was a nice, quiet, intimate moment. We were looking through these pictures and we did that for about ten minutes and we heard this soft scraping noise in towards the back of the ship. And then he looked at me and he said thats not right. Then the lights started flickering on and off. Wine bottles began falling off the shelves. Suddenly i was thrown back in my seat. And it was like the entire backdoor was shaking violently. And so it was 30 seconds of just this violent shaking and this loud deafening sound. When it first happened, i remember saying that, its not a party until something spills. Because the waiter had dropped his tray. At certain stops where everything in the room flew. We knew right eaway that something was wrong. The passengers were all upright and looking at us as crewmembers. And what our reaction was. So i jumped ever the back of the seat and i peeled away the blind from the window and directly behind the window was lance. So my Immediate Reaction was we have hit land and were going to singing. I had decided that overreacting was better than under reacting. So i looked at the two dancers and said, we should go back to our cabins, we should get changed and get our life jackets. And my plan was to go down three decks in order to take the corps corridor to our cabin to the front of the ship. I whipped off my stilettos because i was still in a cocktail dress and heels and i began a very steady pace running down the length of the ship. There was like a swarm of people. They were running into each other, they were running into walls, some of them were just jumping over the bannister, complete bedlam. And so i decided that other people were dangerous. Coming up the ship kept leaning further and further to one side, tilting for disaster. And theres confusion, whats really happening and why wont they tell us . Guess what im facetiming you from . An iphone 6 i know it covers facetiming . Uhhuh. Noice. Whats that all about . Im streaming it covers that . Ohyeah. Way to go. Omg. 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At this point over the system we are hearing that there is nothing wrong, there is nothing to be concerned about, that its an electrical fault that will be fixed very soon. When i heard the announcement that everything was fine and this is an electrical fault, i thoughts that was a panic control method and that we were sinking. Everything tilted to one side. And when the lights went back on, he was fine, and he was kind of pinned between tables, but there was an old man and woman who didnt look lying anybody was with them. So i went over to them and i had them hang on to the rail. Just keep calm and as there is more information, we will inform you. Just keep calm. All of us knew there was something terribly wrong because this boat had already been lifted. We decided we were not going back to our rooms, we were going to a lifeboat right away. We hadnt done the drills, we hadnt acclimated ourselves to the ship, we hardly knew what floor we were on, we just ran outside to find the nearest lifeboat. Then we provided out, then we provided out to the lifeboat at that time. There were people from other cabins that were standing outside the person that takes care of your room was coming around advising everyone that it was an electrical problem, just to go back to your cabin and everything would be okay. By 10 30 in the evening, i went out on to the balcony and thats when i knew that we were very close to the land. About 700 to 1,000 yards, very close. At that point i started thinking, this is not an electrical problem. Theres Something Else that were not being told. We started hearing messages in it tallian. Italian. I was having a hard time understanding. Im fluent in spachb initiate and english, but not italian, and i was not able to make any sense of what was being said. The ship kept leaning further and further to one side. We kept saying, how can this really be an electrical fault . Whats happening and why wont they tell us . When we first came out of the cabin, we could feel our center of gravity just off a little bit. It wasnt too difficult to walk yet, but we had to pay careful attention. It was like standing on a crooked sidewalk tile. And the people in the hallway were running back and forth shouting in italian, french and general and that contributed to the chaos and confusion, by the end of the night, the only way we could walk down any of the corridors was in the corner like this, because the ship had tilted over so far. So even moving a short distance down the hall was really hard to do. At some point they announced that everything is not only okay, and also we should go back to our cabin. I was wearing just a thin jacket in this january weather. And i thought maybe its a good idea to go back to our room and get my down jack. We were going back to our state room and we were stopped by another crewmember who said you are not allowed to go back to your room. Now theres conflict, theres confusion, were hearing Different Things from different people. I suddenly realized that perhaps the crewmembers have no idea whats going on either. I was actually talking to one of my friends who was becoming a little panicky, and i pulled her aside and went into a room, and i shook her and said we are thinking, you are going to need to swim. Coming up, planfrantic calls to shore by the passengers. I knew that it was a death trap. I decided that i needed to get into action. Theres a gash some 150 feet long on the Costa Concordias port side and water is pouring through it. So much so that the ship is beginning to timt. Two out of seven compartments all designed to be water tight has now flooded, which means if even one more is breached, the Costa Concordia is going to sing ing sink. After we attempted to go back to our state room. We crossed through the cafeteria because maybe thats a good place to check things out. My fear is that my relatives who mostly spoke only chinese had no idea what was going on. Benji and i stepped into the restaurant we thought, this was a bad idea. The tables had turned over. There was broken glass, there were knives, forks, all over the floor, wine and water had spilled everywhere. There was food on the floor, it was slippery. There was people just sitting on the side crying. And i knew that that was a death trap. So at that moment, i looked at benji and said lets get out of here as fast as we can. And so we did, we ran and we ran out of the other side of the restaurant. And while we were in the restaurant, figuring out whether we could climb down to our cabin nen, the ship pivoted so that when we came out on to the other side, we were facing open water. So as far as we knew, we were out in the middle of the sea. And we could feel the ship sinking and sinking and sinking. Translator the night of the accident with the concordia ship, we did not have the may day. Passengers began to call phones on land. When we found out about this in the Central Operating center, we immediately called the concordia and what happened, good evening, Costa Concordia, do you have an emergency on board. We have an electrical emergency on board. The operating center immediately triggered the rescue vessels. Knowing at that point that we were dealing with a cruise ship with 4,229 people on board, many patrol boats were sent from all over italy. We decided, lets grab our life jackets, lets go down to where the boats are and maybe theres something thats being arranged to let people know. Once we got to where the boats were, thats when we saw the massive amounts of people that were running around, screaming, looking for their relatives and people react differently when theyre afraid, there were grown people that were pushing kids, old people that theyre not as active or, and they were pushing them out of the way, and some people could have been pushed over the side. I mean it was that chaotic. I decided that i needed to get into action. So i went to my muster station, which is muster station 17 on deck 4, the front of the ship on the bow. And when i got there, there was absolutely no one else there. And again, this is that feeling that maybe i was overreacting, but i absolutely did not believe that. We had messages on board that are coded and theyre only intended for the professionals that theyre aimed at and thats to avoid panic, one of the codes i heard was that it sounded like there were two passengers injured, and i also heard that we had flooding. At this approximate point my interior walked past me and said your job is to sbachbentertain the passengers, so go back and put on your cocktail dress and entertain the passengers. How you can tell someone to go into a dangerous situation, i cannot comprehend. Passengers were actually con greg grating on the outer deck of the ship, in front of lifeboats and they werent told to do that, they wering the that of their own accord. And i actually saw to the assistant director walking toward them, she was telling them to take their life jackets off and to go back to their cabin and wait for more information. Unbelievable and at that point i just completely ignored her and these started shouting at me and i turned my back to her. Because i considered myself no longer working for the company. Coming up, a rush to the lifeboat. We got to get off this ship. Someone screamed out, women and children first. Up to this point, we were together. Now shes on a lifepoint and im still on a sinking ship. 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Has been ripped open after striking rock and now some 30 minutes into the disasters after math, the well appointed luxury lightningner has morphed into an inkreez the ships 26 lifeboats are all located on deck 4. Leaving thousands of terrified souls to do whatever it takes to get there. We gnaw that something was very seriously wrong with that boat. There was chaos, there was screaming, people were running all over the place and which just settled at the nearest lifeboat that we could. With our american friends. It seemed like it made sense the get people off the boat as soon as possible. Since we didnt see any staff to put everybodys life jackets on, we thought we would open up the lifeboats so we could help the people get in the boats at that time and thats when the Staff Members showed up out of nowhere and told us to take our jackets off. There was an employee that came by and closed it up and even took his life jacket on and said, theres no problem, go back to your rooms, go back to your rooms. And we wouldnt go. But there was a group of many, many people already around the lifeboat snowing thatknowing that we got the get off this ship. It was very cold, the wind was blowing, it was dark, the water there, the boat is tilting, serveeverything is coming apart. I was starting to get worried. People are pushing towards the lifeboat, theyre moving slowly but surely, theyre moving into the boat. The people from the crews couldnt hold them back anymore. So then everybody was on their own. The next stop after we got out of the restaurant was the other side of the boat, at this point the high side of the boat, we decided maybe this is time to get in line for a lifeboat. Because everyone was in line for a lifeboat. And we saw that every single lifeboat had a full line. So we just picked one and we were at the very end of the line. People were pushing, shoulder to shoulder, they would scoop their feet in front of your feet by just a little bit, wedging themselves in, and then having got on their feet in place, they would scoot their shoulders in a little bit. And just casually push themselves in front of you. I looked at benji, i said, hey, benji, i dont want to push, but you know, if we dont punish, we will be at the very end of the line and we might not get on the lifeboat and that we might die, right . At about this time, we started to hear announcements first in italian, i remember hearing the worditalian words, but i caught on to that word which must mean abandon, abandon. I thought thats abandon ship, we have to abegan don beganbegan beganabandon ship, thats what it is. And someone burst into the lifeboat. I was told that i could go forward. They pushed me forward. I remember getting into the lifeboat on my right and on my left were two grief stricken women. They were crying uncontrollably, they were all screaming and crying for their husbands, so i put my arms around them, so i used my very limited german and my very limited spanish and told them that everything is okay. And i kept looking at the entrance of the lifeboat hoping that i would see benjis face. I kissed emily and i said, as soon as all the women and children are on there, im going to follow you on to that lifeboat. But she boarded the lifeboat, and some of the men didnt follow the convention, they pushed their way up. And by the time i was at the front of the line, the womaning ing manning the lifeboat said that the lifeboat was full. I was too scared to be scared. I couldnt think about how scared i was, because i was thinking im going to die, letshes going to die, we wont see each other again. Up to this point, we were together, we were a team, but now shes on a lifeboat and im still on a sinking ship. Narrator coming up, into the lifeboat, but not out of danger. We thought that lifeboat was literally going to land on too much of this us. I said please, just get in touch with our kids and tell them we love them and tell me goodbye. Much longer bounty lasts versus one of those bargain brand towels. With bounty, the roll doesnt disappear and thats a good deal. Bounty. The long lasting picker upper. Blue cheese. Fancy. On fresh beef. Fancier. With bacon. Fanciest. What . On brioche . More fancierist . Wendys new bacon blue on brioche. Just the right amount of fancy. Sunday dinners at my house. Its a full day for me, and i love it. But when i started having back pain my sister had to come help. I dont like asking for help. I took tylenol but i had to take six pills to get through the day. So my daughter brought over some aleve. 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I took the people that were with me, which was my companion and there was another lady and her daughter and we headed towards the boat that were being loaded by chaotic people. Everything was crazy, people screaming all over the place. Nobody knew what to do. There was a lot of confusion going on. The lady that i was with did not know how to swim, and also i was told by the lady and her daughter that was with me that they didnt know tow who swim. How to swim. I had to develop a plan quickly to get them off this boat. I told him, you have to do what i tell you, if we need to jump off this ship, we will jump off and we will form a train and i will drag you into the rocks and we will get off this boat. This water where we were may have been 50 to 75 feet in height. Im a triathlete, so that led me to believe that i should swim 700 yards with three people dragging them. I could tell that they were in shock, they were afraid, and i kept letting them know that everything is going to be all right, listen to what im telling you, they didnt say anything, they had their eyes glued on me. About an hour after thepoint hit, there was an overhead announcement of abandon ship. And people that had been waiting here now started clamoring to get on the boat, so we opened the up the gate, just to do that was a big deal because they were clamoring to get on so questionwe had to open up this gate. People were screaming, people very crying, we were literally pushed into this lifeboat. Once we were in the lifeboat, it was so overcrowded with people, that the crew was having a problem engaging them. They showed up, they started getting ready to drop us down to the water. There was twice as many people on the boat that there should be. I kept saying, who is in charge . Who is counting . And there was clearly just in our little area, i stopped counting at 50. 50, 130, and there was well over 2 hung. But the staff didnt take any interest in helping people on the boat. The thought came to me, who are you going to exclude . Thats why i shut up. Whos to say they cant get on this boat. Everybody needed to be on that boat. Everybody needed to get off the ship. The level of the boat came away from the ship and just fell. We didnt think that the boat would hold, but it stopped abruptly abruptly. There was a free fall. So there was a time that we thought we might not make it at that time. We started to come down unevenly, not only coming down unevenly, but we were bouncing against the ship. We all thought, i thought that we were going to go into the water. People were getting even more frantic, but luckily we were able to land in the water flatly, except at this time, theres another boat thats coming in above us. That created more tension because we thought at that point in time that that boat was going to literally land on top of us. Luckry ry luck luck luckily, the engine start and we were able to pull away. I went to my muster station because the ship was inclichbkleining to the right hand side. My spear use was an engineer and he had just come one from the engine room and he was the last one to get out of the engine rooms before they shut the doors and sealed it. So when hi made his way to supposedly relive me. It was not in any fit state to do that job. He had nearly lost hiss life at that point. At this point i was kind of promoted and i suddenly became chief of local. So i had to take charge of all the people and their lives were in my hands. We left without our phones, without our camera, without any id, and i had talked to my children, our children and that was the saddest and the scariest part was that i thought this might be our didemise and i had said goodbye to our kids. One person said that they had a phone. I said everythings gone. He said here, you can borrow my phone. Most of us had our phones and our contact list. And without our phone, i didnt know who to call, and i called the girlfriend i i had had for 30 years. And i called her phone and her husband answered the phone and i said we are on a lifeboat and i dont know if were going to take it. And i sate say goodbye to our kids. He said what, youre were . I said listen, were on a lifeboat, we were taken off the ship because it looks like its going to ship. I said please just get in touch with our kids and tell them we love them and tell them good bye. That was the most horrifying part. Coming up, a crew in crisis. The passengers got their evacuation notice but the crew did not, and they began to pangic and they were crushing one another. That was a grim, grim moment. All the lifeboats are gone, now what todo we do . I want a new lease on life for my skin. New loreal age perfect cell renewal. 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I realized that we were actually tipping closer to the water, and if we stayed there, our feet were going to get wet. I decided to rearrange my muster station on the other side of the sheep, on the up side of the ship so we wouldnt have people falling into the sea. I had people coming up to me and asking me if they could go on my life a raft and it got to the point where i was actually responsible for the whole deck. The passengers got their evacuation notice but the crew did not. And they began to panic because they thought they had been left behind. And they were crushing into the corridor. Which was a small way, they could have killed one another. I managed to reason with them. I said one at a time, were going to go through and were going to make our way to safety. The problem was the way was impossible because the corridor was so wide and the ship had upturned and had become effectively an elevator shaft. It was then that people began linking arms and legs and climbing down one another like a ladder. So at this point, everybody decided, two of us decided to make their way back into the ship and try and find a lifeboat. I didnt think that going back inside the ship was logical because it was almost like going into a coffin because you could get trapped inside. Its the most terrifying moment was when emily got on to the life boat and i was left behind 678. And i thought, i didntont know if i can do this without her. She was my planning partner, she was you know, we brainstormed ideas together and i didnt want to do it without her and i felt alone and congress fused. So i told the crewmember, no, no, im going to get on this lifeboat, my wife is here. And so she let me on to the boat. When benji popped his head into the first lifeboat that we got in, i was screaming his name. Just screaming and screaming. Benji, benji, benji. So he saw me and he walked toward me. So it was more of a relief than i can even convey, when i came on to the boat and i put my arms around her and i thought finally were together, were on the lifeboat, were safe and this is over. But it was not over. Were on the port side of the ship, which is the high side. As they try to lower it down to the water, it starts hitting against the side of the cruise ship. Sometimes it free falls for three feet and then we suddenly get jerked into place. I suddenly realized that they didnt know what was going on. And they did not know how to operate the lifeboat, they had never done this. And i remember looking down and thinking, if these people dont know whats going to happen, and if something happens, were going to fall straight down, and we would die by hitting the deck. That was the first moment they felt fear, that i thought, were going to die. This went on for about ten minutes before they gave up and realized that they couldnt lower us down to the water. So they hoisted us back up to where we started. And told us to get back out on to the ship. And that was a grim, grim moment. One by one, we just slide off back on to the sinking ship. And we looked at them and said, what now . What do we do now . All of the lifeboats are gone. They just shrugged. All the ideas are gone. All the lifeboats are gone. Now what do we do . And it was at this moment when we heard the voice of emilys aunt calling out to us, benji and emily. We just could have been more overjoyed than in that moment and realize that we were together again. As the ship was leaning so hard, the floor underneath us was slowly turning into a wall. That means with the railing in front of us, we were going to be trachedpped under these railings and not be able to ever climb out. And if the ship leaned more, we knew we must climb from the fourth deck to the third deck, otherwise we dont stand a chance and we need to do it as fast as we can. Coming up we took the whole rope and we threw it over the railing a lifeline fraught with danger. I remember thinking rappelling down the side of the ship thats slippery with just one boat and no help. I dont think i can do it. Feet. Tiptoeing. Better things than the pain stiffness, and joint damage of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. Before you and your rheumatologist decide on a biologic ask if xeljanz is right for you. Xeljanz tofacitinib is a small pill not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. Xeljanz can relieve ra symptoms, and help stop further joint damage. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. Dont start xeljanz if you have any infection unless ok with your doctor. 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Benji and emily know their lives could very well hinge on their next decision, if they stay where they are, they could die, trap bidped by the railing as the contra concordia continues to sink. The only way out is down, now the only question is how. We found a stairwell. And we thought we could go from the fourth deck down to the third deck on that stairwell. And it was like mountain climbing. We climbed hand over hand down the railing and had to hold each other by the wrists to secure each other as were climbing, and it took us probably five minutes to climb down one flight of stairs. When we got there. There was a pair of double doors that we tried to open, but they were stuck. So we had to climb back up, hand over hand, back up that stairwell, back up to the fourth deck where we started. We knew we wanted to be out, out on the side of the ship. So we start scrambling around looking for a rope. Im not sure where he found it, but emilys uncle john found a rope that was perfect. It was about 50 feet long and it was about a half a foot in diameter. We got this rope and tied it just like that, and to climb down more easily, we made loops in the rope, and twisted those loops into knots like that to give ourselves something to hold on to, so we made a series of these loops and once we had done that, probably ten of these loops, we took the whole rope and we threw it over the railing and then we climbed over the railing, and started making our way down the loops. We thought we should get as close to the water as possible, so when we jumped, we would be close to the water line. We didnt know we were close to land because the land was on theer side. I thought climbing down this rope, i dont think i can do it. We saw people falling and breaking ankles. And in that situation, if you twist your ankle, you just might die. On that railing, where the rope was tied, we said goodbye to each other, i said i have a song for you. 14 days may not seem like a long time for a marriage but what if those 14 days could last the rest of your life 14 days 14 days, happy anniversary. Theres not much especially to say, everything that needed to be said has been said. An officer who had been on board for a week, ran out on deck in an absolute panic, she was white, she was like a zombie and she started spreading the panic. We have to go, we have to the go now, we have to run through here, we have to go. And half of the people believed her and people were crushing one another in absolute panic. So i actually shouted over her and said on Whose Authority . And she could not answer me, because she was in panic. And half of the crewmembers saw her and they stopped what they were doing. I said if were going to survive this, but need to do it as a team. You have to be aware that at this point things were crashing around us. I was standing in a doorway, and its very difficult to understand what thats like, but when your gravity is shifted, that side becomes the bottom. So i was standing on a doorway, and the drop down into the water was severe. So i didnt have a clear jump because of the tilt. So we were effectively stranded where we were. I couldnt see any way i was going to make it off the ship safely. So i sat very still where i was, i was watching the water rise and i thought to myself about what a wonderful start to my career i had had and what an exciting life i had led is so far and all the things i was greatful for, i was grateful for my degree and my good schooling and at that moment i made peace with the fact that i actually might die and i had led a good life. Then i thought of my parents and what effect it would have on them if i didnt make it. And its at that point that my fire kicked and i i realized i couldnt let them down. A flashing light and a frantic plea on facebook. I said, its friday the 13th, im rose on the titanic, and our ship is sinking, were waiting to be rescued. Ugh. Heartburn. Did someone say burn . Try alka seltzer reliefchews. They work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. Mmm. Amazing. Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Double coverage . No problem. Triple covered . Yes, please. For a limited time at pizza hut get the triple cheese covered stuffed crust pizza. Order a large for just 11. 99. Now thats gamechanging flavor. Only at pizza hut. In our house, we do just about everything online. And our old internet just wasnt cutting it. So i switched us from uverse to xfinity. They have the fastest, most reliable internet. Which is perfect for me, because i think everything should just work. Works . Works. Works works . Works. Works. Yoplait. With a smooth and creamy taste your whole family loves. Dont miss yoplaits exciting new flavors creamy caramel and cookies n cream. Sinking, and we can feel the clock ticking. So i climbed back up and got that rope and untied it from the fourth deck and tied it down on to the third deck so we could descend on to the exterior him of the ship. And emilys aunt and uncle had actually brought with them a camera. And im emily and im benji. Tonight right after denver, we after dinner, we felt a tilt in the boat. I asked benji what was going on and he didnt know. And then wine glasses started falling off. People were runningaround in the hallway. So we made a series of quick videos, each of just just saying, my name is benji smith, im a passenger on the Costa Concordia, today is january 13th, we are holding on to a hope on the port side of the ship. People were screaming, the lights flickered on and off. People ran from deck to deck with life preservers. There was no instruction on the pa system yet. We went to the next floor, because we knew thats where the safety boats were. But when we got to deck 4, no one told us what to do, no one told us what the situation was or what had happened. We just we had so forgotten about, we felt so abandoned, we wanted someone to know that we had been left behind. And after we did that, we put the camera away, and there was a helicopter passing overhead, shining a light down on us. We waved at the helicopter, but no one seemed to be rescuing us. We waited for half an hour, then an hour, and we didnt know why they didnt come for us. And then after a while, there were five to ten different lifeboats that left, seemed to be coming back to get us. So we were so excited. We said, oh, my gosh, finally, were not going to die, everythings going to be okay, they dont approach. None of them came close. So later we realized that the water was too choppy for them to come close and not crash. I was in a position where i was able to see the bridge. And i glanced every few minutes back up to the bridge to see if there was any indication of what was happening from seeing officers up there and actually it was quite quickly that there was no lights, just the emergency lights left on. And once i saw that there were no offericers, that we really had been abandoned. So approximately two hours after we had been on the bottom of the hull. There was a rescue boat that came close to us. It was a rescue boat that had a small hole about 2 1 2 to three feet wide, that you had to jump into in order to get rescued. Two men were inside of the hull, looking at us saying, jump, jump. The water was choppy and their boat was crashing into the ship, its bopping up and down. And from where were at, the lifeboat is about six feet below us. If someone didnt calculate their jumps carefully, they could have gotten their legs crushed with these two boats crashing into each other. I was thinking, can i land on the top of a boat six feet to eight feet away . I think i can do that. I just counted in my head, one, two, three and i just jumped into the tub of the boat. I can still hear the sound of that crunching noise when i imagined jumping on to that lifeboat. Someone can can easily break their leg if they dont sit down. This boat is completely trashed with glass. When that boat left, we could see the blinging ingblinking lights of the life jackets of those the who were till still on the ship. I remember thinking, i didnt know when those people will get off. We were into the Early Morning of the hours now, and i could see a Coast Guard Boat that was circling our ship, but it couldnt see us, and that became very obvious when they kept circling and they werent making any notes that anyone else was left on the ship. Also there were helicopters going overhead and this made it seem like they were looking for people. But they never stopped to hover over us. And i actually thought if the water would rise slowly enough, we might make it to sun rise, and as a very amateur guide, i was looking at my watch, and about every 15 minutes, i was trying to measure the angle against the marks of the water. What i was interested in is whether it was speeding up because i wanted to know how quickly we sink, so in my belief, we were going to completely singing to the bottom of the ocean. At this point when we feel completely alone and and left for dead, basically, the activity of the boat started to reduce. So we decided that we needed to finding light in order to be seen, there was a coast guard ship in the front of the ship, and there were helicopters overhead. And it was at this point in desperation that i felt in my pockets and soundfound a flashlight, however it was broken. So i reconnected the wires and got the flashlight to work. And i was flashing it out to the Coast Guard Boat and trying to get their attention. So the Coast Guard Boats put the lights on us and then they moved the lights up to the helicopters above to signal where we were and back down to us. The problem was where we were, was that the metal of the ship was acting as an overhang, so the helicopter couldnt find us with their search lights or their heat counters. But then they flew away. So i asked the indonesian crewmember if i could use these phone. But there was no signal and the battery was about to die, it was on red. So i was about to login to skype and he had no credit and i looked into facebook and i tried to write a message and it wouldnt send and i tried to write on my fathers wall and it wouldnt post. So i decided to do a Facebook Post with a photograph and basically calling on all my friends to help. I basically made a joke, its friday the 13th, my name is rose of the titanic, and our ship is singing ing ing sinking, and pray for us to be rescued. How much time was left . And on shore, heart break. 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The all out rescue operation grows in size and you are general si urgency, and people were forced to storm packed lifeboats or worse, forced to jump overboard and swim to shore. So the tiny, sleepy island was jolted wide away. I live right over there, right in front of the Costa Concordia, at that time when i was heating, i sue the boat start to tilt. And i saw people hitting the water. I saw a dead one, i pulled him out and put him on the peer. There was 4,000 of them. There was no time to look at any of them. The ones i saw were the ones that i later eopened my homes to. We temperatured on the heat edd edd edtemperatured we turned on the heat and we gave them blankets and food. Once we got to larved, it was dark and cold, and we heard twlmp people on the island helping the passengers. The police were there, the italian army was there, they had set up different tents where with had to go through to get either food or clothing or medical attention. The people on the island were very gracious, very helpful, very open. They opened their houses, they opened their life to us. We just followed the crowd and there was a church that was nearby. Translator i opened the door and outside there were already people on the land with life jackets, with wind breakers who were waiting. And when they saw that i had opened the door, silently, very calmly, very orderly, they came in the church and they sat in the pews. They came in the church, the young ones with babies, wearing very light clothing. It was cold and there were all these people, all these kids wearing shorts, shirts, tshirts. We kind of went off to the side, got up to the front of the church and went off to the side to find a place to kind of sit down. Translator they were asking questions in all the languages of the world. And i didnt know, i didnt understand. And when i did understand, i didnt know how to answer. Because i know just a little english. We still didnt know exactly where we were. We figured we were in the italy, but we didnt know if it was an island. I asked if there was someone who could translate to me. And there was nobody who could do it. So i did it in italian. I said we are are on the island and were trying to help you, please be patient, the worst is over. Were sitting on one of our life jackets and had one over him, and he was the one that was in the short sleeved shirt. And at some point, i grabbed an alter cloth and from this church and was no no disrespect intended, but i thought that he needed it and that the lord would understand. So i just grabbed it and put it around steve, we all huddled underneath it, actually, just to keep warm through the night. Its cold and everybodys kind of quiet because there wasnt much to do. But they had a little microphone, and people would come up to the front looking for family. It tears at your heart to see somebody go to the microphone and if they have seen their loved ones. S. There were guys in blue jackets with costa written on them. I asked them what happened, and they said were evacuating the ship because the ship is sinking. I felt like i was frozen inside. That night a remarkable thing happened on that island. The situation that could be compared to the apocalypse. We had the pressure of how to host all these people when at the time only 950 people lived here. So about four times the number of people who normally live on the island were pouring on to the island. It was 3 00 in the morning when we got to this dock, our lifeboat docked here, and we didnt know where we were, but we hoped there was some sign of where to go. I was looking around for Emergency Personnel or crewmembers to give us some direction, but we couldnt finding any. At this point we didnt know that anyone had died. We didnt learn that until probably a stay later. One of the things i remember Walking Around the boardwalk here in gilio, was a housekeeper, Walking Around like a zombie, and she was saying, housekeeping housekeeping, housekeeping. And i knew she was looking for her colleagues, her friends and she couldnt find them and the voice and the look on her face was just heart breaking. Just haunting. We followed the crowd up the hill past the church to a little hotel called the he tell bahamas. We walked through the door of the hotel and then we immediately found a spot right here where we could put down our life jackets and sat. And suddenly, i heard someone here talking on the phone with a reporter of some kind saying everything is fine, costa is taken care of, all the passengers and everythings peaceful and we know exactly whats happening and this is when a switch just flipped in my head and i said no, no, no. This is not how the story is going to go down, im going to take control of the story. So i grabbed her phone and started speaking to the phone. I said that is not whats happening. There was no control, there were no one to tell us what to do, there were no announcements of any sort, it was just utter madness. People were falling because the ship was actually sinking quite fast. All is not well, were not taken care of, theres no host, no government, no costa representatives helping us like she was talking about. It was heart breaking to know that there were people left behind, because we knew what it was like to get left behind. Coming up it was a sheer drop into to the water, all my adrengaline was going, it was suddenly as if there was hope again. And get this one next. Whoa what are you guys doing . Making sure nothing sticks. Otherwise, we gotta scrub all this stuff off. Huh, what . Nobody thought of this before . Whats wrong with people . Dish issues . Not with improved cascade platinum. It powers through. Your toughest, starchy messes. Better than finishs best. 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Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. 3 f2 entonces, son las 3 de la we maneuvered ourselves by throat throwing one another across chasms, and my body was a flea way underneath. It was a sheer drop into the water, with the mettle of the ship underneath. So all my adrenaline was going, and thank goodness i grew up as a tomboy climbing trees, so i was very well practiced at this. We made our way to Higher Ground and the helicopter came back to us and it was suddenly as if there was hope again and all the fighting and the survival had paid off. And the rescuer came down on a zip line and they decided i should go first as the only woman and they put a horseshoe very loosely around me and the rescuer clamped his legs around my waist and i held on to is zip like. And he said to me, you have to keep your head in, because if you hit the metal it will kill you, and he was saying this in italian so i could average half understand. So when we zip wired up, he had to kick away from the ship to swing around away from the metal to get into the helicopter. We get into the helicopter. He pushes me back, unhooked me and signals to go and i said, no, no, no, theres four more. And i made him go down and get every Single Person that was there. At that point, we were flown to a military base in tuscany and i was questioned by the commander of the base in order to coordinate the rescue. And the reason for this was that i had heard people banging inside the ship that we couldnt get to. So they needed to know in this very dangerous situation where these people were that needed rescuing. I was quizzed by the commander for so long and i wasnt able to use the phone to ring home. So he actually gave me his personal phone to ring back to the United Kingdom and my dad was waiting by the phone, waiting for a call from my mom who was on holiday, and he missed the phone by one ring and it went to voicemail. So so i left him a voicemail to say that i was fine, so obviously that set off alarm bells to him. And that you are ship had sank and that he needed to call my mom, let her know that i was okay, and that he needed to alert the world to what was happening because there were International Passengers that needed help. So he went around and phoned all of the News Agencies and got it on the news within the hour. Unfortunately, he couldnt reach my mom who had left her phone on holiday. So she didnt see what happened until he was in heathrow in london coming through the airport when my little brother looked up, pointed to the screen and said thats roses ship, so my mom had an absolute heart attack. So she was very traumatized by what happened. And she actually found out i was alive through the news, she saw me on the television and thats how she knew i was alive. Alive. Safe and alive. But 32 others were not so lucky that night. Some perished while still trapped inside the ship, others were overcome by tempti be the elements after being frung into the sea. Why were they among those who escaped. Benji and emily returned to the island a few years later to face the ghosts that haunted still, the remains of the Costa Concordia. Im either nervous or seasick. I think probably more than anything else, coming here, i wanted to satisfy a curiosity. To the ship wreck isnt such a dominant forbes in our daily lives, i kind of wanted to test that to see, like, are we really as well as we believe we are . I really want to see it. But its a very weird feeling. Oh, my god. That is just unbelievable. You actually cant see any of the deck where we climbed down because its all under water. I come to gilio wanting to see what gilio was actually like and i want to see the impact of the ship wreck. We really wanted to come back and go to the Hotel Bahamas and see the inn keeper and give him a hug and thanningk him again. He was the person who gave us a place for a few hours and took care of us and he gave us a hug and he let us call our family and its very emotional in that moment when you felt completely abandoned and you want to be angry at the world and the world says, you know what . Not all of us are bad. Some are nice too. Do you remember walking along on all of the railings like right up on the top deck there . Walking along, holding on to the railing, Holding Hands . Yeah. And i think the top level here, this is where the theres a restaurant and thats where the spa was. I was expecting this to be bigger, but since half of it is in the water, it just i dont know, it looks really skad. Sad. When i saw the Costa Concordia sitting powerless in the water, looking so small, i actually felt a sense of misplaced anger. I didnt know how to feel about this anymore. I was expecting it to be bigger. I was expecting me to feel more powerless, but in front of it now, i kind of feel nothing. Since the accident, i immigrated to america, and im trying to find my feet again, and its a challenge every single day to try to find myself again. I felt like i lost who i was because of that ship wreck. Its changed a lot of aspects of my life and brought out strengths in me that i didnt know i had, and weaknesses in many that i have to deal with. I had the dream job and i was set to have a brilliant career as a performer. And i have barely been dancing since this incident. I have had nightmares nearly every night since the ship wreck. Im still suffering every day. From time to time, i wake up in the middle of the night and i see myself on that boat, still trying to get out. I still dream about it. Its something that i will never, ever forget as long as i live. There is no closure to that nightmare. I dont know what happens, i dont know if im able to swim to shore, or if i dont make it. I look at trying to live every day to the fullest. I was able to see my grand daughter born. And i appreciate my family more today than before. The disaster changed me in that i ended up quitting my job. A job that i dearly loved and i think that was a rut of theesult of my reaction to the disaster. During the first month, all of my patients wanted to discuss what happened obvious the boat. When you talk to these psychiatrists and you start weeping, im not i dont do that, ever. You know. With dont want people to forget 32 people died and nobody should have died on that boat. When we first started telling our story to journalists, we did it because we really felt like it was important, it was important for future cruisers, it was important for safety. About four months after the ship wreck, i started working on a book and worked on it for about a careeryear and i wanted to share that story with others, because everybodys been through some sort of catastrophe, not everybodys gotten off a sinking ship, but everybodys had something happen to them. And by taking this story into my own hands and writing a book, it made it possible to regain control over my own destiny in a certain way. Benji is a writer, and im really not. My medium is music. And somehow the ship wreck gave me focus. During the evacuation, i told myself, if i dont die, im not going to be scared anymore. So i decided not to be scared anymore. And i wrote an album of original music. I wrote to express the feeling of pain from feeling guilty, being alive, feeling angry at being abandoned, feeling sad for seeing other people suffer. Our experience is telling longer and deeper story than just to the evacuation, than just the ship wreck. Right now when i have dreams, theyre just about the future. Were no longer just trapped in the past. Some huow i think the whole ordeal sort of gave us motivation to do more in our lives, to give us some mission. I no longer dream about the Costa Concordia at all. Just last month, the captain of the concordia, francesco cut teen know, says it acted in his words kbraifly and swiftly to help. It says con that it said Costa Concordia did everything all of the survivors that you met tonight have claims pending against costa and the company has agreed to compensate. Well see you next sunday at 9 00, 8 00 central for an all new eedition of escape. And for all at nbc news, good right now at 11 00, gunshots and some dead. Hear from neighbors who are shocked about the shooting and also who police have now arrested. Good evening to you. We are tracking a developing story out of the east bay. Gunshots ring out in the usually quiet streets of liver moremore. Police have a suspect in custody. We are live at the scene with more. Reporter police say this is unique to this neighborhood calling it a quiet part of town