THE semi-submerged remains of the biggest cruise ship ever capsized is still at sea. The besieged captain awaits trial and the biggest salvage mission ever undertaken has begun.
AS the one-year anniversary dawns for the 23 Australians on board the doomed Costa Concordia cruise liner, the horror of what happened that night still remains far too raw.
Today on the Tuscany island of Giglio survivors and the families of some of the 32 people who died when the ship hit a reef and sank are coming together for a memorial service.
There is not expected to be any Australians there, the painful memories and scars holding them back from travelling to see the 114,000 tonne ship still lying on its side at the entrance to the Giglio port.
While there were no Australians killed for some of the survivors the past 12 months have been a living nightmare.
Perth couple Rob Elcombe and Tracey Gunn took the cruise in a bid to save their marriage but in the end saved each other from scenes that they described as just like the movie Titanic.
Perth couple Tracey Gunn and Rob Elcombe. Picture: Daniel Wilkins
They survived the sinking but now are drowning in the mental trauma of it all.
Mr Elcombe had a successful career as a miner but has had to give his job up and now works as a driver earning $60,000, less than half what he was on in the mining industry.
''We are both suffering post traumatic stress, depression and it's been a pretty bad years for us,'' Mr Elcombe said yesterday.
''I was having nightmares and all sorts of things and a psychiatrist whacked me on these pills to mellow me out. I was angry for a long time. I just wanted to hurt myself or somebody else. I was on suicide watch. That's how bad it got.''
Michelle Barraclough with husband John Sultana and their daughter Katherine were pushed aside by screaming people as they tried to board a lifeboat on the sinking Costa Concordia.
''It's top of the list, I think about it everyday. On the side (of the ship) that was underwater we were the last ones off … it was supposedly the life boat the captain (Francesco Schettino) was on but I didn't see him there on our boat. I saw him standing on the rocks there talking on the phone when we came in.''
Ms Gunn added: ''We had to basically change our lives but we don't hold any malice against him, he made a mistake. In the light of day Costa is responsible for it, putting an (Indonesian) helmsman who didn't speak Italian or English and the captain the way he acted.''
The couple has this week launched court action in Genoa against the Costa owners for unspecific damages including the mental trauma as well as the physical injuries Mr Elcombe suffered, including a torn and crushed leg.
To date they have not received an apology from the cruise liner nor any offer for compensation other than a general $14,000 for loss of their luggage, clothes, passports, and jewellery.
If there was one positive from the cruise, Mr Elcombe said it was that he was still together with his wife; the disaster having brought them closer together.
''We have been pretty close since then, it's been pretty good," he said.
''Since then we have been working things out together and everything, so it's all good, looking positive."
He said in their submerged cabin was still his wife's grandmother's wedding ring and when the boat refloats he doesn't know whether it's recoverable.
''I wouldn't mind getting that ring back from in our room if they come across it but I don't know what the chance of that is," he said.
Melbourne man John Sultana was with his wife Michelle Barraclough and now 13-year-old daughter Katherine when the ship sank.
He said yesterday that he had drawn a line under the entire terrifying event.
It was over as far as he was concerned.
''But it's going to make the next cruise hard,'' he said.
''We are going, not with Costa, on a cruise in October to Japan and Asia. It's going to be interesting getting on that boat but we'll see how we go.''
The family recalled the horror of the scramble to get off the ship, grown men mostly shoving them out of the way to get out first.
It was every man, literally, for themselves at the expenses of women and families.
He said Katherine doesn't talk about the shocking experience much but they may have to raise the issue after booking another cruise.
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