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Costa Concordia is gone, but horror lingers 10 years later

Italy Shipwreck Anniversary
Posted at 10:26 AM, Jan 13, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-13 10:26:00-05

GIGLIO, Italy (AP) — Italy has paid tribute to the 32 victims of the Costa Concordia shipwreck on the 10th anniversary of the disaster.

A daylong commemoration on the Tuscan island of Giglio is recalling the horror of the night the ship slammed into a reef and then capsized offshore.

Some of the 4,200 people who survived returned to Giglio to participate in the solemn anniversary events.

On Thursday, they also honored the residents of Giglio who took in crew members and passengers from the ship, the Associated Press reported.

The residents also lived with the ship's carcass for another two years before it was hauled away for scrap, the news outlet reported.

They began with a Mass and ended with a candlelit vigil marking the exact moment, 9:45 p.m., that the Concordia hit rocks that sliced a 70-meter (230-foot) gash in its hull.

The Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for ordering the crew to take the ship off course to come closer to Giglio in a stunt.