Cruise ship passenger says grandmother survived Titanic

Investigators approach the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which leans on its starboard side after running aground in the tiny Tuscan island of Isola del Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. The Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said. AP/Gregorio Borgia

ROME—Valentina Capuano could not believe it when the luxury cruise ship she was on began to sink — she only hoped that she would be saved like her grandmother, who survived the Titanic disaster, 100 years ago.

“It was like re-living history, it was horrible, I was really shocked,” said Capuano, who managed to escape when the giant Costa Concordia hit a rock and tipped over off the northwest Italian coast on Friday.

Her grandmother survived when the Titanic passenger liner sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1912. Her brother Giovanni did not.

Giovanni, who had been working as a waiter on the Titanic and hoped to begin a new life in America, was one of the 1,517 people who died in the disaster.

“I am still shaken up and get very upset when I think about what I’ve been through, I have heart palpitations,” said Capuana, who escaped the sinking vessel along with her fiancé, her brother and his girlfriend.

A century after the Titanic struck an iceberg, the Concordia — which had over 3,000 passengers on board and around 1,000 crew — hit a rock which tore a huge hole in its side, leaving at least 11 dead and around two dozen missing.

Around 60 people were injured as they jumped from the listing ship into life-boats or the cold sea.