A Puyallup woman who was aboard the Costa Concordia when it ran aground off the coast of Italy two weeks ago told KIRO 7 on Friday that she called her husband and told him she thought she was going to die as her lifeboat dangled off the high side of the ship.

Lynn Kaelin of Puyallup said her and her traveling companion were just starting dinner when they felt the ship run into something.

“It hit so hard. The ship shook and it was a big boom,” she said.

Soon after, the two were with 4,200 other passengers fighting their way through the dark.

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“You couldn’t walk down,” she said. “I was laying, literally, on the side of the wall trying to pull myself. I think there was a railing.”

Sixteen people are known to be dead and another 16 are still missing since the incident. The ship’s captain is under house arrest and faces possible charges related to the crash.

Kaelin described a chaotic emergency response in which the crew seemed confused.

“We were up on the 4^th floor and the lady goes, ‘Go to the 5^th floor, go to the 5^th floor,’” Kaelin said. “And then we got up to the 5^th floor and she goes, ‘Come to the 4^th floor, come to the 4^th floor.’”

Kaelin made it into a lifeboat, but began to despair as the boat dangled off the side of the ship. That’s when she called home.

“Now we’re dangling in the air like this on the side of the ship, and that’s when I got scared and I called my husband,” she said. “I said that I lost Karen (her travel partner) and started crying, and I said, ‘I lost Karen and I’m hanging off the side of a ship, and I don’t think I’m going to make it.’”

The lifeboat made it into the water, and Kaelin and her friend made it home safely, but shaken.

“I haven’t dealt with it yet,” she said. “Like I say, I look at this ship and I think of those poor people, and the last two nights, I wake up and I find myself on this dark ship with water coming in, and I can’t find my way out.”

Kaelin said she’s heard about the cruise ship company’s offer of $14,000 in compensation and 30 percent off her next cruise. However, she said she’s not likely to accept it so she and other passengers can pursue legal action against the company.