Netflix Documentary: The sinking of the Costa Concordia, minute by minute

One hundred years after the Titanic disaster, it is the sinking of the giant cruise ship Costa Concordia on January 13, 2012, near the Italian island of Giglio, that will forever remain etched in people’s memories. The Netflix documentary Adrift: A Nightmare at Sea retraces the night of horror minute by minute, giving a voice to the survivors and the crew.

The accident occurred at 9:45 p.m. following a reckless maneuver by Captain Francesco Schettino intended to perform a “salute.” The goal? To offer his passengers an exceptional view. By altering his course, he unfortunately came far too close to the coast.

After striking a reef and sustaining a breach more than 50 meters long, the cruise ship began taking on water and listing to one side. And it's a terrified captain whom we hear saying in the documentary: “My God, what have I done?” Faced with the panic on board, one passenger recalls: “We thought we were on the Titanic.”

Between distress and abandonment

The account highlights the captain’s catastrophic handling of the accident, as he delayed raising the alarm before abandoning the ship, leaving hundreds of people behind. This escape, in fact, led to a now-famous exchange in which an Italian coast guard officer vehemently ordered the captain not to abandon the Costa Concordia: “Vada a bordo, cazzo!” (“Get back on board, damn it!”).

At the same time, the captain’s distress and denial come through powerfully in the bridge recordings: “I want to know where that damn rock was—the alarm didn’t go off.”

In memory of the victims

By enriching the chronology of events with testimonies and personal archival videos, the film reveals the full humanity and the still-vivid, almost untouched pain of the survivors, 14 years after the tragedy. This 71-minute documentary pays a poignant tribute to the 32 victims of the disaster.

As for the Costa Concordia, it was eventually salvaged and then dismantled in Genoa, Italy, while Francesco Schettino is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter and abandoning ship.