An East Texas couple is safe, five days after they had to flee for their lives from a sinking ship.

Navy Petty Officer Second Class Tameshia Gumbs, 30, and her husband Kishan, were on the Costa Concordia cruise ship when it ran aground off the coast of Italy Friday.

 

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Eleven people are known dead and more than two dozen people are still unaccounted for in the aftermath of the worst cruise ship disaster in decades.

As the Costa Concordia rolled over on its side, forcing thousands of passengers to fend for themselves in getting off the ship, the family of Tameshia Gumbs back in Longview knew she and her husband were on board, but they didn't know what happened to them until she called them saying they were alive and safe.

In a phone interview with Tyler TV station KLTV, Petty Officer Gumbs says the scene was a lot like what happened in the movie Titanic.

"People below decks below us--I could hear people's tables and glasses--I could hear people scuffling to try to get out," says Tameshia, "We wasn't warned, no one told us that this was an emergency situation... We just ran."

Though she and her husband managed to keep their heads, Tameshia says many people were panic stricken, and learning the captain had fled the ship just made it worse.

Petty Officer Gumbs says she's just glad to be alive to talk about it, calling it a "horrific memory." One she certainly won't soon forget.

The ship's captain remains in custody under house arrest, as Italian authorities continue their investigation of the disaster.

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