I went back to Isola del Giglio January 13, 2013 to attend the memorial events and listen. A person having the same job I did for many years (in another company) is accused of manslaughter! It could have been me! The ferry to the island was not full of people. At 10.00 am the big rock that apparently produced the port side hull structural damages was repositioned on the sea floor outside Isola del Scole. Relatives of victims, invited by Costa, deposited flowers in sea there. Evidently nobody died at the
contact outside Isola del Scole, so why deposit flowers there? At 11.00 am there was a ceremony at the church, where, after some religious sermons, framed certificates of thanks were handed out to Italian admirals, generals and high civil servants of all kind of various organisations having assisted to send the survivors home.
Later, 9.45.07 pm sirens were blown and there was a silent minute at the port. The
contact occurred at 9.45.07 pm a year earlier! But nobody died then. What kind of event was this?
Ship owner Costa Crociere SpA, the Italian unit of Miami-based Carnival Corp., sent several passengers a letter telling them they were not invited to the official anniversary ceremonies Jan. 13, 2013, on the island of Giglio, where the hulking ship still rests on the coral reef. Costa said the day was focused on the families of the 32 people who died Jan. 13, 2012, not the 4 200 passengers and crew who survived.
"We are sure that you will understand both the logistical impossibility of accommodating all of you on the island, as well as the desire for privacy expressed by the families at this sorrowful time," Costa chief executive Michael Thamm wrote in the letter obtained by The Associated Press.
He expressed sympathies to the survivors and said he trusted that their thoughts and prayers
"will help lead us to a brighter future."Evidently there were no problems at all to accommodate 4 200 people on the island and bring 4 200 people from the island on Jan. 14, 2012!
Most people I talked to on the island condemned the Master, F. Schettino. It was his fault that people died. It seems that most people had forgotten that all deaths occurred at about 00.34 am the next day, Jan. 14, 2012, when the ship
capsized outside the port of the island. But at 00.34 am nothing was done at Porto Giglio.
The capsize was forgotten. More at
http://heiwaco.tripod.com/news8.htm