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Ten years after Costa Concord wreck survives island survivors By Reuters

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Costa Concordia cruise ship is seen on a parbuckling operation outside the port of Giglio on January 11, 2014. REUTERS / Max Rossi

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By Gabriele Pileri and Philip Pullella

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) – Ester Percossi still hears screams, feels cold and sees panic in people’s eyes.

The Costa Concordia is one of the survivors of the sinking of a luxury boat that capsized on the coast of the small Italian island of Giglio on January 13, 2012, and killed 32 people in one of Europe’s worst seas. disasters.

Percossi and other survivors have returned to the island to pay tribute to the dead and to thank the islands for their 4,200 crew and passengers in the dark and dark winters, more than six times the winter population.

“It’s very moving. Today we come here, most importantly, to remember those who are not with us, and to live the hell we lived through and try to exorcise it in some way,” Percossi said on arrival on Wednesday. Thursday memories.

“I remember the cries of the people, who were jumping into the sea. I remember the cold, the feeling of panic in everyone’s eyes,” he said.

While there were many heroes that night, the captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, was not among them. Italian media put the “Captain Coward” mark on the rescue for abandoning the ship, sentencing him to 16 years in prison in 2017 on charges of murder.

One crew member who did not leave was Russel Rebello, a waiter who helped the passengers get off the ship. His body was recovered a few years later when he corrected the massive rusty hulk and towed it, the most expensive marine debris recovery in history.

“My brother did his duty, helping other people who lost his life, of course I’m proud of that and I think he would be very proud of what he did, helping so many other people,” Russell’s brother said when Kevin arrived. memories.

“I’m shivering, this is amazing,” Rebello said as he entered St. Lawrence Church alive and throwing flowers into the sea with the islands before a ceremony.

Concordia stayed by his side for two and a half years, looking like a giant white whale on the beach. For some neighbors, he never left.

On the night of the disaster, an elderly nun, Sister Pasqualina Pellegrino, opened a local school, convent and canteen to house the shipwrecked.

“It’s a memory that never fades. Even when the ship was still there, it looked like an abandoned person, throwing sadness, because I could see through the window,” the sister said.

“And even now it’s not pleasant to remember. But unfortunately, that’s the life, the pain, the joy, you have to go on day in and day out,” he said.

(Reported by Philip Pullella from Rome; supplementary report by Yara Nardi, edited by Philip Pullella; edited by Emelia Sithole-Matarisi)

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