A cruise ship that ran aground is seen off the west coast of Italy at Giglio island, Saturday. — Reuters PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy — Survivors who escaped a luxury cruise ship that ran aground and tipped over recounted a scene reminiscent of “Titanic” Saturday, describing a delayed then panicked evacuation, as plates and glasses crashed around them and they crawled along upended hallways trying to reach safety. Three bodies were recovered from the sea off the tiny island of Giglio near Tuscany where the Costa Concordia ran aground with 4,200 people aboard late Friday, tearing a 160-foot gash in its hull. Passengers complained the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate and once the emergency became clear, delayed lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many of them to be released. Coast guard rescuers were continuing to search the ship for passengers. “Have you seen ‘Titanic?' That's exactly what it was,” said Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles who was traveling with her sister and parents on the first of two cruises around the Mediterranean. They all bore dark red bruises on their knees from the desperate crawl they endured along hallways and stairwells that were nearly vertical, trying to reach rescue boats. “We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing,” her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61, said. “We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls.” She choked up as she recounted the moment when an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship lurched to the side and the family found themselves standing on a wall. “He said ‘take my baby,'” Mrs. Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand as she teared up. “I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn't want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn't hold her. “I thought that was the end and I thought they should be with their baby,” she said. “I wonder where they are,” daughter Valerie whispered. The family said they were some of the last off the ship, forced to shimmy along a rope down the exposed side of the ship to a waiting rescue vessel.
