Yesteryears: Clonmel couple's dramatic escape in 2012 from sinking cruise liner

A Clonmel couple’s dramatic escape from a sinking cruise liner was our lead front page story this time ten years ago in our edition of January 19, 2012.
Seamus and Carol Moore were among the last of the 4,200 people on board to be rescued from the stricken Costa Concordia luxury liner off the Italian island of Giglio on Saturday morning, January 14, after enduring a five-hour horror during which they feared for their lives, wrote Eamon Lacey.
After abandoning one overcrowded and dangerous lifeboat that could not be lowered into the sea, the Moores had to get back onto the sinking ship. They were sitting on the side of the boat as it was sinking into the Mediterranean when they rang a family friend who was minding their 15-year-old son James and asked him to tell their kids that they loved them if they did not make it.
“We did not know if we were going to make it. At that point we just did not know what way it was going to go. We told him to tell the kids that we loved them. I told my friend that my will was with my solicitor and to make sure that the kids were looked after,” said Seamus.
They had just enjoyed a wonderful day in Rome visiting the Vatican and taking in other sites before re-boarding their cruiser.

Yesteryears: There were two strikes ongoing in Clonmel this week 40 years ago

AWARD FOR CAPPAWHITE SOLDIER
Elsewhere on the front page that week we covered a story about a young soldier from Cappawhite who had been awarded one of the highest honours for bravery while serving with the British Army in war-torn Afghanistan.
Lance Corporal James White was awarded the Military Cross, which was personally presented to him by Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
James from Greenfields, Cappawhite, earned the distinguished award for “multiple acts of bravery.”

MAN ATTACKED IN CARRICK-ON-SUIR
Also in that week’s edition the mother of a 16-year-old talented hurler and handballer who was viciously attacked outside his home in Carrick-on-Suir, told The Nationalist that her son was lucky to be alive following the assault.
Stephen Moroney stopped breathing for 22 seconds after the brutal beating he suffered in front of his distraught family but thankfully paramedics managed to bring him back to consciousness.
The apprentice plumber, who was on the Tipperary U-17 hurling panel at the time, suffered multiple injuries in front of his home at Treacy Park, at around 1.30 am on Saturday morning, January 17.