A former Maidstone Grammar School boy has told how he had to plunge into icy waters and swim to shore to flee the doomed Costa Concordia.

Dancer, Joe Stribley, 19, described the scene he was faced with as "something out of the Titanic" when he saw water gushing up a staircase, as he tried to find a way out of the £390million ship.

Joe, now back home with his parents in Sutton Valence, was asleep in his cabin when the Concordia struck the rocks off the Italian isle of Giglio on Friday night.

As he left his cabin he began searching for a way out.

He said: "Most people were fairly calm, but there were so many people and no-one was moving anywhere that we started to walk around the ship to find another way out.

"We walked to the other side of the ship outside and I remember looking at deck 3. It was a high up deck, but it was instantly covered in water and then I saw water gushing up a stairwell. It was filling up and then all the lights went out - it was a complete blackout and terrifying."

He added: "A friend said: "Joe, we’ve got to jump." I didn’t question it, I just jumped in. The water was freezing and my arms were going like mad. I turned round on my back and I could just see the ship falling."

Joe and four friends made it to safety by clinging to rocks.

Before the tragedy, Joe and fellow dancers had been enjoying life on board, posting several pictures on Facebook, including ones of the ship towering above ports where it docked.

Joe added: "Given what happened and what I saw "I think it is amazing the death toll was unbelievably low."