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Monday, 23 January 2012

Meet Goan Survivors of the ill-fated Costa Concordia

Update 27.1.2012

About 53 Goan survivors / crew members of the ill-fated Costa Concordia
offered thanksgiving mass at Holy Cross, Bambolim today on 27th January 2012.

 


Earlier, there was a thanksgiving Ladainha  / Litany  at the Miraculous Cross or Fulamcho Khuris, same place (see a pic from archive)

During the offertory (Mass), a ship, a cake, Flowers etc offfered to the priest


The choir was also formed entirely of the survivors. see pic (above)
In the end, they sang ‘argam tuka Somia’ amidst clapping of hands.
Followed by ‘Goemcho Saib’ orasao ‘Sam Francis Xaviera’

Of the 53, there were many apear to be in their early 20’s

Some pics

Fr. Freddy D’ Souza
Goan Pallottine  priest based in US who served as 'Chaplain' onboard many Cruise ships abroad.



Church / Mass - left

right

middle




The Main Altar



the 5 men choir (all survivors)


 
use the links below for larger view

all Survivors - also seen in the video at the end.



 Video - thanksgiving


Bambolim Church / Shrine
(from archive)

earlier.... on 22/1/2012

Meet Severino, one of the survivors of the ill-fated Ship Costa Concordia
It was like a home to him for he spent almost 4 years onboard the ship as this was
his 5th trip (first trip after getting married).
Happy to be home with family


               

 The luxury liner, Costa Concordia, capsized after hitting a rock in Italian waters on Friday the 13th January 2012 around 9.30pm.
Onboard were 4,229 people, including 1,023 crew.
Crew inludes 202 Indians
Of them, 201 were rescued and 31-year-old Rebello Russel Terence from Mumbai is missing
Update: Nov 3, 2014
The missing body  of Russel Rebello  finally found on deck 8 in a cabin of the wrecked Concordia after 1025 days i.e on 3/11/2014.
His brother on 11.11.14 (FB) says Russel's funeral will take place in Bombay after all the formalities are done
Update: February 2015
Finally, funeral taking place on 22nd Feb 2015 at Vasai, Mumbai



https://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoauk48/16597543425/in/photostream/





Most managed to survive the capsizing, 11 have been confirmed dead and some 21 missing.
The first group of 63 of  201 Indians rescued, returned home on 19.1.12
6 Goans
Remaining 130 returned back next day, 20.1.12
8 Goans

        REUTERS-MAX Rossie

Remaining 7 were to fly back next day 21.1.12
One staying back as he married to Italian

External affair ministry or Indian Embassy in Italy, gave 100 Euros to each survivor and air ticket to fly back home.

                                                       Andreas Solaro-AFP-Getty Images

Excerpts from Local Dailies:
Severino Colaco  (see pic) recalling the time of the accident said, "When the ship began to tilt, I was at the galley. A heavy heater came rolling towards me, however I dodged it. Then a second heater came towards me and hit me on my knee. I did not know the ship was in danger of sinking as the captain did not alert us."
Mr Colaco from Cansaulim, was employed as a second cook aboard the Costa Concordia. He said he was stationed at the kitchen which is on the lower deck (under water part of the ship) He said, "Friends came to help, and on realising the magnitude of the accident we ran helter-skelter to safety. I was taken to the doctor and saw other crew members helping passengers into the lifeboats."

These Goans who arrived back home on Friday expressed displeasure over the attitude of the Goa government. They said. "Our Chennai colleagues were welcomed at the
airport by the Chennai government with flowers, but in Goa the government did not even know about the incident." NT 22/1/12
22-year-old Daniel Bothelo from Santa Cruz said, "I was on side duty, providing the spot lights for a magic show that was being held for the passengers. Suddenly there was a bang, the power went off and we realised an accident had occurred."

 "The scene was like the Titanic, we were forced to jump in the water as the ship had tilted and people were falling off. When we fell into the cold waters, we had to swim fast because the ship was tilting towards us and there was the danger of it falling on us."




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2 comments:

  1. Armando Rodrigues9 February 2012 at 00:57

    Dear Joe :
    Thanks for the enlightening information and pictures. Most of us were completely oblivious of the fact that there were so many of our countrymen serving on board.
    Keep up the good work.
    Armand Rodrigues
    Toronto, Canada

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11 February 2012 at 04:45

    Joe, that is a really good collation of events related to this tragedy that affected so many young Goenkars. Alu Fernandes's comment on the local Goan government's summarizes how these greedy Goan politicians - whose children surely are in better off jobs - do not care about the future generation's problems. For them it is me, me, me! They will offer lots of flower garlands to Delhi politicians visiting town, not because they care about them, but for better reasons. A few garlands or bouquets to these traumatized men would have made them feel welcome. Hope they recover from their ordeals and carry on with life on other avenues.
    Joao Paulo Cota, London

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