Friday, January 13, newly married Jorge Iñiguez and Olga Velarde were enjoying dinner aboard the cruise ship on the first night of their honeymoon when they felt it hit some rocks.
The crew at first maintained that it was a problem with an electric generator, but it became obvious what had happened when the ship started sinking.
The couple managed to escape on a lifeboat in the ensuing chaos, though not without harrowing moments. Iñiguez told Spanish-language daily Milenio that it was the most terrible trip of his life.
The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, has been arrested and faces charges of manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning ship with passengers still on board. Meanwhile the cruise company, Costa Crociere, has come under criticism for its panicked and not very helpful crew and for not providing assistance in the aftermath.Of the more than 4,200 people on the ship that night, 11 have been confirmed dead and two dozen are still missing.
Now, with the assistance of Cecilia de Maurin, legal advisor in charge of the couple’s case at the Mexican Consulate in Rome, the honeymooners are considering whether to sue Costa Crociere or the Mexican agency where they bought their ill-fated tickets.
While the couple suffered no physical injuries, they lost everything they had on board, including cash, clothes, cell phones and documents. Additionally, they paid 85,000 pesos for the flights, the cruise and their accommodations along the way.
A class action suit has started in Italy. Already 70 survivors of the shipwreck have joined up, with another suit started by two passengers in France.