‘‘There was a loud bang, the lights went off, then the lights came back on, and after that, the ship started to lean,’’ Mrs Strickland’s father, Grant Watts, said.

‘‘They went outside their cabin, but at that point the crew weren’t panicking; the crew told them to go back to their rooms and go to sleep.’’

The Newcastle couple, who are both teachers at St Philips Christian College, did not sleep. They threw coats on over their pyjamas and climbed the stairs to the deck of the cruise ship, the Costa Concordia.

The ship had hit rocks and keeled over off the west coast of Italy, leaving at least three passengers dead and dozens missing.

‘‘My son-in-law said there was a lot of panic, people screaming, pushing and shoving,’’ Mr Watts said. ‘‘The crew tried to calm people down, yelling at them to be quiet.

‘‘Passengers were told to all move to one side of the ship because it was leaning too much. It was chaotic.’’

The Stricklands waited on the deck for about an hour before passengers were told to start getting into lifeboats.

‘‘As the ship started going down it was a mad rush to get on the boats,’’ Mr Strickland, a popular member of the University of Newcastle Cricket Club, told ABC television last night.

‘‘Everyone was just like, freaking out. We were like, there’s no point getting on to the boats because we will just get crushed.

‘‘We got onto one of the last [lifeboats] before the ship was completely submerged.’’

Mr Watts said he knew nothing about the disaster until a phone call from his daughter on Saturday night.

‘‘She told us: ‘We’re OK. Our ship sank and we have been evacuated. We’re on an island’,’’ he said.

‘‘She wasn’t sure which island she was on. Then her phone ran out of credit.’’

Mr Watts said the couple, among 23 Australians aboard the ill-fated ship, were taken to a hotel in Rome and would arrive back in Australia some time this afternoon.