Costa Cruises, the company which owns the now-shipwrecked Costa Concordia, is in the process of offering full refunds to surviving passengers, but that won't stop the lawsuits from being filed or the amateur videos from revealing that the crew might not have handle the accident in the best way possible. The Guardian reports today on the growing number of legal inquiries facing Costa Cruises. In particular, they told the story of Sandra Rodgers, a woman who lost her husband's ashes during the accident. It's a tragic tale, and that's possibly why The Guardian chose to focus on her. But Rodgers' quotes, seem to fall in line with the reports of the crew's excuse-filled explanations and haphazard evacuation process. "Thank God we didn't do as they had told us as we may not have made it off the ship alive," she told The Guardian. "There was certainly no 'women and children first' policy. It was disgusting." 

Rodgers said that passengers were told by the crew there was a simple technical problem and instructed to go back to their cabin--which echoes earlier reports of the crew blaming the crash, which would ultimately tip the ship, on a "technical" problem and the crew reporting a blackout to port authorities. And it looks like Rodgers is telling the truth, as there's now amateur video (which has been replayed by Italian news outlets) of the crew telling its scared-looking, life jacket-clad passengers to go back into their rooms and calm down--the video was allegedly taken 40 minutes after the accident. 

On a different note but in the same viral vein, there's also this eerie clip (uploaded last night) of water gushing into the ship (we're still working to confirm the video's authenticity). 

If there's one company that's looking good for now, it's the UK-based Irwin-Mitchell law firm, which The Guardian reports, has been fielding multiple inquiries from many of the ship's surviving passengers. 

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Alexander Abad-Santos