As passengers desperately struggled to escape the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship, a group of rich Russians reportedly bribed crewmembers to get coveted spots on the life boats.

Italian officials are reportedly investigating whether expensively dressed Eastern Europeans stuffed handfuls of cash into the pockets of cruise line staff after the massive vessel hit a reef on January 13, reported the Sun.co.uk.

A resident who lives on the island of Giglio near where the ship capsized four miles off course has revealed that instead of seeing women, children and wounded when the first life boats reached dry land, she was shocked to come face-to-face with, "healthy men and elegant women in evening gowns who were speaking Russian," Franca Anichini told German media.