National Geographic to air first documentary on Concordia sinking

Last month, just days after the cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground off a Tuscan island, killing 17 people and leaving 15 missing, Discovery Channel announced that it would “dissect the anatomy” of the Friday the 13th disaster and — with the quiet confidence of a network long used to being the only game in town — said the docu would air “this spring.”

But on the same day an Italian court refused to lift the house arrest order for the ship’s captain — who is under investigation on suspicion of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before all passengers were evacuated — National Geographic Channel pounced.

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(CBS NEWS) - The Costa Concordia.

NatGeo announced Tuesday that it had hired the producers of the quick-turnaround British documentary “Terror at Sea: The Sinking of the Concordia” — which already aired on the United Kingdom’s Channel 4 — to rework it for the United States under the name “Italian Cruise Ship Disaster: The Untold Stories.” It will air Sunday, NatGeo announced.

And that beats to air by one week Discovery’s premiere of “Cruise Ship Disaster: Inside the Concordia.”

“Just announced! National Geographic Channel to air first U.S. documentary detailing the Italian cruise ship disaster moment-by-moment,” NatGeo bragged Tuesday.

Discovery’s Costa Concordia project will be a very focused forensic investigation that uses experts from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and that includes survivor stories and eyewitness accounts.

Discovery crews will be covering the teams charged with figuring out how to salvage a shipping vessel larger than the Titanic. The Discovery docu will address such questions as: What happened at the time of the accident? What role did captain Francesco Schettin play? How did the crew evacuate the ship? What are the mechanics of searching the site while guarding the waters against environmental damage? What lies next for the massive, unprecedented salvage mission? And will salvage teams be able to save the ship and successfully dismantle its once mighty hull and frame?

“With so many unanswered questions, Discovery will piece together not only the immediate events, but the bigger story of what comes next in recovery and restoration,” Nancy Daniels, executive VP of production and development for Discovery Channel, said recently.

NatGeo’s Concordia program promises to detail the sinking in a “still raw” account, told primarily through the eyes of those who experienced it, who are also American. “American survivors tell their haunting story in depth and share exclusive home video footage,” NatGeo promised.

For the NatGeo telecast, the British documentary’s non-American interviews have been swapped out for American ones: Sameer and Divya Sharma from Massachusetts were celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary, and 18-year-old Amanda Warrick, who was traveling with her older brothers, tossed out the idea on the Friday-the-13th departure date that “something’s gonna happen.”

When the ship hit the rocks, “at first there was a tilt and a shake of the ship — that’s when tables and glasses started crashing. I was kind of in shock. I remember immediately standing up and looking at my brothers. I was just kind of speechless and silent,” Amanda says in the docu.