County Durham man tells of dramatic escape from Costa Concordia (From The Northern Echo)

County Durham man tells of dramatic escape from Costa Concordia

10:53am Thursday 19th January 2012 in Chester-le-Street News

A COUNTY Durham singer has told how he survived the Costa Concordia disaster when he jumped and swam for his life.

Ian Fraser, of Esh Winning, County Durham, was working on board the ship, which ran aground off the Tuscan coast and keeled over on Friday night.

He also paid tribute to crew member and friend Sandor Feher, a Hungarian violinist who was the first of the dead to be identified yesterday.

Eleven people have been confirmed dead in the disaster, and more than 20 are still missing.

Mr Fraser, said: “It veered sharply to the right,”

“The impact was far more exaggerated than we were used to.

“The ship was rising and the water was getting closer when the lights went out and we were plunged into darkness."

An hour-and-a-half later he was on deck at the back of the ship with about 40 fellow crew members and passengers with water lapping around their ankles.

He said: "There was a terrible juddering sound, which we subsequently found out was the rock slicing through the ship.

“The lights came back on and it was, ‘Right, go now, this is our window of chance to go. If we don’t go now we might not make it’.

“I knew then I had to jump or swim.

“We knew this was our chance to go and we just belly-flopped into the water. I was swimming towards the rocks and I looked back and couldn’t believe that just a few hours ago I had been sitting in my cabin watching telly.

“The place we had jumped from had disappeared underwater. All around us people were screaming and shouting.

“The ship was making a terrible groaning, like it was in its death throes.

I knew I was lucky to be alive.”

Mr Fraser swam to rocks about 100 yards away and saw the liner's funnel tipping down towards him.

He said: “I remember thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’”, he said. “Two hours previously I was in the cabin watching television and I am now swimming away from my place of work, the ship I love, to save my life.

“It was dreadful and surreal.”

The Costa Concordia had more than 4,200 passengers and crew on board when it slammed into the reef off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio on Friday after the captain Francesco Schettino, 52, allegedly made an unauthorised manoeuvre.

The British Embassy then arranged for Ian and fellow Brits to be taken to hotels and then flown back home.

He arrived back in Esh Winning on Sunday evening, where relieved neighbours were pleased to finally learn he was safe, as they had been unable to contact him since his mobile was damaged by the water.

It was only yesterday that he learned the tragic news that his friend, Hungarian violinist Sandor Feher had lost his life.

He said: “I had worked with him on another contract before.

“He was a genius, a magnificent violinist. I had just spoken to him earlier in the day, he had been unwell with the flu.”

Mr Fraser, 47, has worked on cruise liners for 20 years, where he sings as part of a production show team.

He said: “Seeing the ship like that in the water I find it amazing that more people did not lose their lives and I think that is a testament to the crew members who helped get the passengers off the boat.

“You can do as many safety drills as you like, but nothing can prepare you for the real thing.”

The captain, Francesco Schettino, who allegedly sailed the Costa Concordia close to rocks while 'showing off', is under house arrest accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship while passengers were stranded.

Criminal charges are expected to be filed by prosecutors shortly. Schettino faces the possibility of jail.