Ludlow News

Ludlow cruise ship singer had to swim for his life as Costa Concordia went down

By Adrian Kibbler

7:30am Thursday 26th January 2012

A CRUISE ship singer from Ludlow has told how he was forced to swim for his life when the Costa Concordia sank off the Italian coast last week.

And Ian Fraser, a member of onboard entertainment team, believes it’s remarkable that more people did not lose their lives.

He was forced to jump into the sea and swim ashore after the ship hit rocks off the Italian coast.

“It became impossible to launch lifeboats and so the only choice was to jump into the water,” said Ian, 47.

“I was in my cabin when I first became aware that something was wrong but it was not immediately apparent how serious things were. It was about 9.45pm when the incident happened and I jumped off the ship at about midnight so it was a long time before the order was given to abandon ship. The first I heard was a juddering and the ship turned.

Lights were flickering and it was dark although there was moonlight.”

“By the time I left the ship it was listing heavily and I had made my way to the side of the ship that was near the water and so it was less a jump and more of a belly flop.

“I was in a lifejacket and we were near the shore so there was no fear of drowning but I was aware that the ship was moving and it was important to get away.”

“One death is too many but given the delay between us hitting the rock and the order to abandon ship I am surprised that more people did not lose their lives.

“I did not feel that I was going to die but looking back I realise it was more dangerous than it seemed at the time

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