Italian cruise ship survivor opens up about her ordeal
PUYALLUP, Wash. -- A local survivor of the Jan. 13 Italian cruise ship disaster is breaking her silence about the terror that continues to haunt her.
The dark of night brings on Lynn Kaelin's recurring nightmare.
"I wake up. The water's coming in. It's pitch black and I'm on that ship, trying to find a way out of it," she said. "We hit and it shook the whole ship. It just vibrated. The whole ship shook, just like someone put a bomb on it."
From her bed in her Puyallup home, Kaelin's dreams transport her back onto the Costa Concordia and her real-life struggle to get out alive.
"It was horrible. When I was on that lifeboat, I honestly did not think I was going to make it. I called my husband and that's when I lost it because this Italian man sort of did a charade with me and told me that if we don't hit the water we're not going to make it, the ship is going to roll over the squish us."
Sixteen passengers died, and 16 more are still missing and presumed dead.
Kaelin believes the Costa Concordia's captain, who rammed the reef and then saved himself, is nothing short of a killer.
"I want him held responsible for the people that have lost their lives," she said.
The dark of night brings on Lynn Kaelin's recurring nightmare.
"I wake up. The water's coming in. It's pitch black and I'm on that ship, trying to find a way out of it," she said. "We hit and it shook the whole ship. It just vibrated. The whole ship shook, just like someone put a bomb on it."
From her bed in her Puyallup home, Kaelin's dreams transport her back onto the Costa Concordia and her real-life struggle to get out alive.
"It was horrible. When I was on that lifeboat, I honestly did not think I was going to make it. I called my husband and that's when I lost it because this Italian man sort of did a charade with me and told me that if we don't hit the water we're not going to make it, the ship is going to roll over the squish us."
Sixteen passengers died, and 16 more are still missing and presumed dead.
Kaelin believes the Costa Concordia's captain, who rammed the reef and then saved himself, is nothing short of a killer.
"I want him held responsible for the people that have lost their lives," she said.