HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 2012-01-26 Advertisementreported in -
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left the table, but the Home-
stead couple remained in
the dining room. When the
lights on the ship went dead
soon afterward, the married
couple grabbed metal rails
along the wall and treaded
in the dark up the steep in-
cline toward their cabin.
Camacho quickly swapped
her high heels for low-
heeled boots and slipped in-
to a coat. They both got into
their life vests. And out they
went.
When they made it to the
highest side of the boat, the
side out of the water, Cama-
cho and Hernandez scram-
bled to find a lifeboat. But it
was chaos, she said, people
wailing in the darkness,
"families with little kids
crashing into doors and
walls, chairs flying every-
where." They finally found
a raft, but Hernandez did his
duty by helping several oth-
ers, children among them,
get into the boat before he
and his wife did.
When he and Camacho
were ready to jump in, they
were told there wasn't
enough room. Frantically,
they went to "three, four"
more rafts, he said, denied
access each time. Finally,
the normally soft-spoken,
shy Hernandez said he
shouted: `I'm getting in and
you can't stop me!' and the
two forced their way onto
the raft.
Then, more panic.
The raft wouldn't detach
from the ship, and everyone
bolted.
"No one knew what was
going on," Camacho said.
"I've been on cruises before
from the United States.
They give you safety classes
before you leave. They tell
He grabbed his wife's
hand and led her back
through the dining room to
the other side of the ship.
This time, instead of going
up, they slid all the way
down on the floor filled
with food and beverage, to-
ward the submerged por-
tion of the massive vessel,
using couches to cushion
their arrival. "There was
glass all over," Camacho
said. "Tables. Chairs. It was
dark. It was slippery.
"My husband just kept
saying, 'Keep going!' I cut
my finger, I hurt my knee,
but we got to the other side.
It felt like we were skating."
They finally entered an
orange raft from the fourth
floor of the ship, but the ves-
sel was tilted so far down
that "we were maybe two
feet from the water," Her-
nandez said.
The two were taken to Gi-
glio off the Tuscan coast,
then ferried to a bus that
took them to a school. Later,
they were driven 2 % hours
to Rome, where they reunit-
ed with their new friends.
The 100-plus U.S. citizens
onboard had an informal
meeting among themselves,
which included the Sabas.
"We are freaking survi-
vors!" said Kois, who at-
tended Melrose Elementary
and Robert E. Lee Junior
High when she lived in Mi-
ami, and would have gone
to Miami Jackson High had
she not moved to New York.
"Karen and Manny are won-
derful people," she said of
her new Miami friends.
Added Kaelin: "We've
bonded. Now it's like we're
related."
Camacho and Hernandez
would like to leave next
urday, according to The Sun
Sentinel.
David Saba, 26, told his
brother that the couple was
in the dining room enjoying
dinner when they "felt
something hit below, and
the ship shook a lot."
Very quickly the ship be-
gan to list, alarms sounded,
and the Sabas "went direct-
ly to the lifeboats," said Jo-
seph Saba. "They were very
lucky, one of the first ones
in the boats."
The liner had sailed from
the port of Rome just hours
earlier, and evacuation
drills had not yet been held,
officials said.
"David said he wasn't that
scared at the time, but she
was," said Joseph Saba.
"They said it was horrible."
The Sabas were unable to
retrieve their passports or
any of their belongings
from their cabin, said Jo-
seph Saba. They did have
wallets and credit cards.
On Sunday, the couple
was talking to the American
consular officials about
travel documents that
would allow them to return
to South Florida.
"They were so lucky, so
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