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Four hours into what was theoretical to be a 16-day trip aboard the luxury liner, Salzburg, his better half and daughter were in their cabin getting ready for bed when they heard a sudden grinding clangour followed by a resounding thud.
“You could feel the ship lift when it hit this detail,” said Salzburg, 71. He, his wife Josephine, 70, and their daughter, Mary-Jo, 39, questioned a troupe member in the hallway, who told them an electric generator had blown and it was nothing to be troubled about.
The Salzburgs, who live in the small McHenry County town of Richmond, are veterans of more than a dozen cruises. While the gang kept insisting the generator was to blame and everything would be fine, “we got our life-force jackets,” Salzburg said.
Five minutes later, the lights went out in the hut.
As is well-known now, the luxury liner carrying more than 4,200 people ran aground around 10 p.m. provincial time off the Italian coast, tipped over onto its side with a 160-foot incise in its hull, and capsized. At least six people are dead and 29 are missing, including 25 passengers and four band members, according to news reports.
Source: Chicago Daily Herald