Concordia 2nd Anniversary Brings Back Horrible Memories, Unanswered Questions

By Myles Collier, Christian Post Contributor Monday, January 13, 2014

Those who survived the capsized Costa Concordia gathered at the spot there lives were changed forever to participate in a ceremony commemorating the two-year anniversary of the accident that killed 32 people.

Family and friends of those who perished attended Mass in the island's church and remembered those lost on Jan. 13, 2012 when the Concordia slammed into a reef and capsized.

"I am here for my sister," Madeleine Soria Molina of Peru, whose sister Erika Fani Soria Molina was one of the crewmembers killed, told the Associated Press. "It is a way to be with her again, because the death of a member of your family -- of a brother or sister -- it is hard to get over it."

The ship is due to be towed away from the Mediterranean holiday island sometime this year and will be broken down into scrap.

"Definitely (this anniversary) is something that takes us back to that terrible night, even if today we are looking at this anniversary ... with a light that is a little bit different," Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli said. "Today we are looking forward optimistically to what will be the final operation."

Francesco Schettino, the captain of the wrecked Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, has been in and out of court several times since the incident and has repeatedly stated that he is innocent of the charges of manslaughter brought against him.

Schettino is accused of negligently steering the cruise ship too close to shore while conducting a maneuver known as a "salute" where the cruise liner paralleled the shore and came very close to land.

Schettino took the cruise ship off course with passengers and crewmembers coming close to the Tuscan island of Giglio, where it struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The gash on the side of the ship flooded the engine rooms and caused the ship to capsize just hours after it had left port.

Making the case against him worse, Schettino left the ship before everyone was evacuated after it capsized. Costa Concordia passengers who survived the wreck as well as victims' loved ones have attended the court hearings and are seeking compensation.