Crew member on sinking Costa Concordia ship reveals simple signal she used to save herself

A cruise ship worker has revealed how she saved herself during one of the worst maritime shipwrecks of the modern era.

Rose Metcalf features on the Netflix documentary Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea, which revisits the tragic story of the Costa Concordia disaster, alongside never-before-seen footage and survivor accounts.

The Costa Concordia left the port of Civitavecchia at 19:18 local time on 13 January 2012, with 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew on board.

Captain Francesco Schettino ordered for the cruise ship to be steered close to the island of Giglio - before disaster struck.

What happened to the Costa Concordia?

Just over two hours after leaving the port, at 21:45, the Costa Concordia hit a reef, wrecking with over 4,000 people on board. The ship began taking on water, and tilted in the sea.

In 2012, the Costa Concordia cruise ship struck a reef off the Italian island of Giglio, causing it to capsize (Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images)

Tragically, 32 people died during the disaster, including 27 passengers and five crew members. Captain Francesco Schettino abandoned the ship at approximately 23:30 local time.

Cruise ship dancer Rose Metcalf was one of the lucky ones who lived to tell the tale.

'Nobody's coming to rescue us'

Along with other crew members, Rose was helping people safely evacuate the ship and on to a lifeboat as it began to tip.

After helping everyone to get across, Rose and four others became stranded due to the ship tilting so high.

Rose worked as a dancer on the ship (ITV)

Speaking on the Netflix documentary, she emotionally recalled: "It felt like being marooned on a desert island."

"I definitely felt like I'm all alone. Nobody's coming to rescue us."

'This little reel of my life started playing in front of my eyes'

At that moment, Rose recalled how she began to hear rescue helicopters hovering overhead, however, she said the ship was covering her and others 'like an umbrella'.

"I couldn't get down to the water level, I couldn't get back inside the ship," she recalled.

The Costa Concordia's capsizing resulted in the deaths of 32 people (Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images)

"At this point we were sinking, and that was the moment when this little reel of my life started playing in front of my eyes."

It was then when Rose's 'fight kicked in'.

She realized she had a flash light in her pocket, and although she 'didn't know morse code,' the dancer began to flash the light to the boat in front of them.

In the documentary, rescue workers can be heard saying: "We have a signal from someone. We're going to assist them."

"All of a sudden, this man floats down like James Bond," Rose recalled.

The Captain was charged with charged with multiple counts of manslaughter and abandoning ship (Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images)

She and others with her were then pulled up into a helicopter, and were taken to Gresseto Airport, where they were given first aid.

"When I flew away, I could see everything that I loved, and my reality, was gone," she emotionally recalled during the documentary. "But I was alive."

What happened to Captain Schettino in the wake of the disaster?

Captain Schettino, who had abandoned the ship, was later arrested and put on trial, and charged with multiple counts of manslaughter and abandoning ship. He is currently serving a 16-year-sentence.

Schettino admitted to making a navigational error, in which he told investigators he had 'ordered the turn too late'.

Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea lands on Netflix on 10 July.