Couple were ‘resigned to death’ on liner

IT should have been a trip to remember — but not for the reasons Seamus and Carol Moore will always recall their Mediterranean cruise.

As they arrived back in Dublin yesterday to an emotional reunion with family and friends, the discovery of more bodies on board the stricken Costa Concordia made the story of the Clonmel couple’s escape all the more remarkable.

The Moores, who booked the cruise to celebrate Carol’s 50th birthday, said they were relieved to be home, but the trauma of the previous 48 hours told on their faces.

First among those to greet them were their children Luke, 22, Claire, 19, and James, 15, whom Seamus and Carol had insisted not be told of the unfolding drama when they rang a friend from the top of the sinking ship in the early hours of Saturday morning after waiting hours without rescue.

Their instructions had been simple: “Say nothing until you know the outcome of what happens but if we don’t make it, tell the children we love them and our will is with our solicitor.”

Arriving back in Ireland on a flight from Rome yesterday afternoon, the couple said they felt lucky to be alive. Carol recalled how helpless they had felt and how they thought at one stage that there was no hope of rescue.

“You go through so many emotions and you think, should you do something and yet there is nothing you can do,” she said. “Then this peace comes and you think if we are going to go, this is it. We were resigned to it.”

The couple, who were among three Irish people on the ship when it ran aground on rocks off the Italian coast on Friday night, had earlier told how they made their way as instructed to lifeboat stations but had to abandon one overcrowded lifeboat after attempts to lower it to the sea failed.

“The lifeboat half-collapsed. I actually thought we were dangling over water and either that we were going to be tipped out or it was going to break up and throw us out. That would have been down a few storeys,” Seamus revealed.

The lifeboat was hauled back up again but the couple were left for hours holding on to the side of the of ship and climbing to find higher spots each time it sank a little more, before fresh rescue services arrived.

Despite the scenes of chaos, Seamus said, staff did their best to take charge of the situation.

“The staff did their best in terms of advising us to go out one by one, but there was total panic and melee and people clambering over other people,” he said.

“These were people who were serving dinner earlier that night, or serving drinks or making up your rooms. To their credit they did their best in very difficult circumstances.”

Describing reaching home ground as a great relief, Seamus added: “It was a difficult experience for us both but at the end of the day it worked out very well, despite what happened.”

A third Irish person who was also on board was reported to be safe and well last night.

Meanwhile, investigations into the cause of the wreckage were ongoing last night. The owners of the cruise ship said “preliminary indications” suggested the captain may have been guilty of “significant human error”.

Skipper Francesco Schettino was reportedly being questioned by Italian prosecutors on suspicion of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship as the death toll of the tragedy off the Tuscan coast rose to five. Costa Cruises, the ship’s owners, issued a statement calling into question Capt Schettino’s judgment. It said: “We are working with investigators to find out precisely what went wrong.”