Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Revealed: Five-year-old girl and her father drowned because they were turned away from a lifeboat on the Costa Concordia

  • Dayana and William Arlotti among the 32 victims of cruise ship tragedy
  • They had been unable to find a space on board a lifeboat on the port side
  • Trying to get to across to the starboard side when the ship rolled over 
  • They fell into a flooded part of the ship and drowned
  • New dossier details the final moments of each of the victims
  • Prosecutors using it in bid to bring captain Francesco Schettino to trial
A five-year-old girl died on board the stricken the Costa Concordia after she and her father were turned away from a lifeboat, it emerged today.
Dayana Arlotti and her father William Arlotti fell into a flooded part of the stricken cruise ship and drowned as they tried to cross to the other side after no one offered to give up their space.
The pair had tried to get aboard a lifeboat on the port side but nobody offered them a space. A crew member had directed them to the starboard side but as they tried to make it across the ship rolled over.
Victims: William Arlotti and his five-year-old daughter Dyana drowned on board the Coast Concordia after being turned away from a life boat
Victims: William Arlotti and his five-year-old daughter Dyana drowned on board the Coast Concordia after being turned away from a life boat
Mother: Susy Albertini, left, the mother of five-year-old victim Dayana Arlotti is pictured being supported by a friend before the bodies of her husband and daughter were discovered
Justice: The harrowing story is part of a 60-page dossier which prosecutors are using in a bid to bring Captain Francesco Schettino to trial
(Left) Susy Albertini the mother of five-year-old victim Dayana Arlotti is pictured being supported by a friend before the body of her daughter was discovered. (Right) The Costa Concordia's disgraced captain Francesco Schettino
Their harrowing story is included in a 60 page dossier detailing the final moments of each of the 32 victims of the cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany in January last year.
The disgraced captain, Francesco Schettino was branded a coward and widely criticised for abandoning ship after making an ill-fated detour by  to the island of Giglio, where the ship hit a rock tearing a massive hole in its belly.

Prosecutors have produced the dossier in a bid to have Schettino brought to trial charged with manslaughter and abandoning ship.
Recounting the final moments of Dayana Arlotti and her father it states: 'They could not find a place on the life boats on the port side.
'They were directed by crew to the starboard side of the same deck. But while they were crossing the corridor inside the vessel, the ship rolled over causing them to fall into a flooded part of the deck.'
Among the others to have lost their lives aboard the Costa Concordia was 30-year-old Musician Giuseppe Girolamo.
The Costa Concordia
Stricken: The Costa Concordia lies on its side after running aground off the coast of Tuscany in January last year
A year on: The Costa Concordia capsized on January 13 2012 with 4,252 passengers and crew on board, 32 lives could not be saved
Tragedy: The Costa Concordia capsized on January 13 2012 with 4,252 passengers and crew on board, 32 people died
Divers search for the bodies of the victims of the Costa Concordia disaster
Grim task: Divers search for the bodies of the missing victims of the Costa Concordia disaster
Girolamo, a drummer from Bari, on his first cruise as crew, showed extraordinary courage when he gave up his place on a life boat for a child. But he paid the ultimate price.
The dossier documented: 'Having not found a place in the boats on starboard side he was directed by crew members to the port side.
'After giving up his place on a life boat to facilitate the boarding of passengers he drowned in waters off the resort of Gabbianara.’
Honeymoon bride Maria D'Introno, who had boarded the doomed liner with her groom and other relatives who were celebrating a golden wedding anniversary had managed to get on a life raft.
But she was forced to reboard the ship 'because the lifeboat was leaning excessively to one side and was deemed unsafe to fall into the sea.’
Damage: A picture of the huge gash in the side of the stricken Costa Concordia's hull
Damage: A picture of the huge gash in the side of the stricken Costa Concordia's hull
costaDisaster: The document also lists hundreds of passengers and crew who suffered injuries as well as those that have suffered from insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder since the tragedy
The 30-year-old was directed to the port side but, because of the 'rising waters' was forced to take to the sea. She could not swim.
Russel Rebello, a 33-year-old crew member from India who worked in housekeeping, 'remained on the ship to organise the launch of the final passenger life rafts, but fell into the sea at the last roll of the ship.' He drowned.
The document also lists hundreds of passengers and crew who suffered injuries as well as those that have suffered from insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder since the tragedy.
Sorrow: Flowers thrown by family members of missing victims from the Costa Concordia cruise ship bob in the sea
Sorrow: Flowers thrown by family members of missing victims from the Costa Concordia cruise ship bob in the sea

It repeats allegatios that Schettino was distracted from his duties by the presence on the bridge of a Moldovan former dancer.
Schettino is accused of altering the course of the ship so that it sailed close to the picturesque coast in a bid to impress passengers and crew, as well as locals waiting on a nearby island.
But the liner instead sailed straight into the path of the rock, which tore a 70-metre hole into the side of the Costa Concordia's hull before becoming lodged inside the vessel.
More than 4,000 holidaymakers and crew were on board when the disaster struck just three hours after the ship left port for the start of a Mediterranean cruise on January 13.
At the time, coastguards said they had 'never seen' anything like it and described the lodged rock as 'unique in maritime history'.

A preliminary hearing has been set for April 15.

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