Costa Concordia: captain ‘says he tripped and fell into lifeboat’



The captain of the crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship, Francesco Schettino, has reportedly said the reason he was in a lifeboat while thousands of panic-stricken passengers and crew were trying to evacuate was because he “tripped” and fell into the rescue craft.

Mr Schettino told investigating magistrates in Grosseto, on the Italian mainland, that he ended up in the lifeboat by accident.

During three hours of interrogation on Tuesday, he reportedly said: “The passengers were pouring onto the decks, taking the lifeboats by assault. I didn’t even have a life jacket because I had given it to one of the passengers. I was trying to get people to get into the boats in an orderly fashion. Suddenly, since the ship was at a 60 to 70 degree angle, I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That’s how I found myself there.”
He said he got stuck in the lifeboat for an hour before it was lowered into the water off the coast of Giglio island.

Also with him was Dimitri Christidis, the Greek second in command of the Concordia and Silvia Coronica, the third officer, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

“Suspended there, I was unable to lower the boat into the sea, because the space was blocked by other boats in the water.

The captain confirmed that he took the cruise liner close to Giglio’s rocky coast in order to give a ‘salute’ to an old colleague, a former Costa Cruises captain named Mario Palombo.

“It’s true that the salute was for Commodore Mario Palombo, with whom I was on the telephone. The route was decided as we left Civitavecchia but I made a mistake on the approach. I was navigating by sight because I knew the depths well and I had done this manoeuvre three or four times. But this time I ordered the turn too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow.

“I don’t know why it happened, I was a victim of my instincts.”
Once he had reached dry land and was allowed to leave the harbour master's office, Schettino's primary concern was to buy some socks.
Ottavio Brizzi, a taxi driver on the island of Giglio, said he picked him up at 11.30am on Saturday and took him the 400 yards to the Bahamas Hotel.

"It was a very short journey, no more than 30 seconds if that," he said. "He didn't say very much apart from asking me where he could buy some dry socks. He looked very cold and scared - he looked like a beaten dog."

Mr Schettino has been accused by one of the officers on board the Costa Concordia of skippering the ship "like a Ferrari" driver.
"If I had to make a comparison, we got the impression that he would drive a bus like a Ferrari," Martino Pellegrino told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.
Salvage work was expected to begin on the ship later on Wednesday, as hopes faded that any more survivors would be rescued. The search was suspended early on Wednesday morning after the ship shifted on the rock. 24 people remain missing, while 11 people have so far been found dead.



Mr Pellegrino said Capt Schettino was an "authoritarian" who was often "inflexible" in the way he commanded the giant liner as it cruised the Mediterranean.

Mario Palombo, a former Costa commander and colleague of the captain, said: "I've always had my reservations about Schettino. It's true, he was my second in command, but he was too exuberant. A daredevil. More than once I had to put him in his place."
It was reported that a month ago the captain insisted on setting sail from Marseilles in 60 knot winds, despite the reservations of his officers.

But other colleagues came to his defence. Michele Miccio, another officer on the ship, said Capt Schettino had forged "a brilliant career" with Costa Cruises.
The captain's sister, Giulia Schettino, said he had been unfairly subjected to "mud-slinging" and said the accusations against him had not yet been proved.
"My brother will demonstrate that he had no responsibility for what happened," she said.
Italians have been transfixed by the release of dramatic audio tapes in which furious Coast Guard officials questioned why he was in a lifeboat rather than commanding the evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew once it ran aground.

At one point a Coast Guard official, Gregorio De Falco, told him: "Get the ---- back on board." The phrase has been seized on by Italians on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites and has been printed on T-shirts.

Capt Schettino arrived at his home near Sorrento, south of Naples, in the early hours of Wednesday, having been released from prison and placed under house arrest by an investigating judge.
He had been held in custody in prison in Grosseto, in Tuscany, since being arrested on Saturday, hours after the giant cruise ship ran aground on Giglio.

A judge, Valeria Montesarchio, ruled that he should be allowed to remain under house arrest as he awaits trial on accusations of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship.
The 52-year-old captain denied the allegations through his lawyer.

"The captain defended his role on the direction of the ship after the collision, which in the captain's opinion saved hundreds if not thousands of lives," Bruno Leporatti said. "The captain specified that he did not abandon ship."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9022170/Costa-Concordia-captain-says-he-tripped-and-fell-into-lifeboat.html

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Cruise disaster: word by angry word - coastguard accuses Concordia captain of abandoning passengers

Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia was repeatedly ordered back on to his stricken ship by coastguard officials after they discovered he was in a lifeboat rather than commanding the evacuation of more than 4,000 passengers and crew.

In an extraordinary exchange with the Italian port authorities, Francesco Schettino was accused of abandoning hundreds of passengers still trapped on the listing cruise ship and of refusing a direct order to get back on board and help with the rescue effort.

A senior coastguard officer was aghast when Capt Schettino, 52, told him that he was trying to coordinate the operation from the safety of a lifeboat, while apparently being unaware that some of his passengers had lost their lives in the disaster.

“What do you want? To go back home, Schettino?” the furious official yelled, after the captain complained that he couldn’t see anything because it was “dark”.

A transcript of the exchange, between the Concordia’s captain and Gregorio De Falco, a captain with the Livorno port authorities, was released yesterday as Capt Schettino appeared before prosecutors and a judge at a preliminary hearing on whether he should be kept in custody.

He is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship before all passengers were evacuated, after apparently sailing too close to the island of Giglio to come within sight of his head waiter’s family home.

Francesco Verusio, the prosecutor who is leading the investigation, has called the captain’s behaviour “inexcusable”.

Capt Schettino’s lawyer Bruno Leporatti said his client’s actions had saved “hundreds if not thousands of lives” and insisted he had not abandoned his ship.

The audio recording of his increasingly frantic exchange with Capt De Falco however, appeared to show Capt Schettino had fled the listing vessel while hundreds of passengers were trapped on board.

The tape revealed Capt De Falco’s mounting anger and frustration as he struggled to get the captain back on board his sinking ship. The exchange came at around 1.46am on Saturday, around four hours after the initial collision between the Costa Concordia and an underwater rock formation just a few hundred yards off the coast of Giglio.

The collision caused Capt Schettino to attempt to steer the ship back into the island’s port, but it capsized on to a rocky shelf as it reached shallow water. The evacuation of the vessel eventually began at around 11.50pm and would not be complete until about 4.45am, but at the time of the recording Capt Schettino had apparently already left the cruise ship and was in a lifeboat heading for safety.

Coastguard official, Captain Gregorio De Falco (CG): “Hello. This is De Falco from Livorno, am I speaking with the captain?”
Captain Francesco Schettino (FS): “Yes, good evening Captain De Falco.”
CG: “Am I speaking with the captain? Please tell me your name.”
FS: “This is captain Schettino.”
CG: “Schettino? Listen Schettino, there are people trapped on board. Now you need to go on your lifeboat, under the bow of the ship on the side. There is a ladder. You need to climb up the ladder and board the ship. Get on board and report to me how many people there are. Is that clear? I am recording this conversation, captain Schettino.”
FS: “Captain, let me tell you one thing, ”
CG: “Speak up!”
FS: “The ship, at this moment, ”
CG: “Captain, speak up! Shield the microphone with your hand and speak louder, clear?”
FS: “At this moment the ship is tilted.”
CG: “I understand. Listen, there are people who are coming down the ladder on the bow. Go back in the opposite direction, get back on the ship, and tell me how many people there are and what they have on board. Clear? Tell me if there are children, women and what kind of help they need. And you tell me the number of each of these categories. Is that clear? Look, Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Dammit!”
FS: “Captain, please, ”
CG: “There is no 'please’ about it. Go back on board. Assure me you are going back on board!”
FS: “I am in the lifeboat, under the ship, I haven’t gone anywhere, I’m here.”
CG: “What are you doing?”
FS: “I am coordinating, ”
CG: “What are you coordinating there? Get on board the ship and coordinate the rescue on board. Are you refusing?”
FS: “No, no I am not refusing.”
CG: “Are you refusing to go on board? Tell me the reason why you are not going.”
FS: “I am not going because there is another lifeboat that has stopped.”
CG: “You get on board. This is an order. You need to continue the rescue. You called the evacuation, now I am in charge. You need to go on board the ship, is that clear?”
FS: “Captain.”
CG: “Can you hear me?”
FS: “I am going.”
CG: “Go. Call me when you are on board. My air rescue team is there. He is at
the bow. Get going. There are already corpses Schettino. Move!”
FS: “How many dead are there?”
CG: “I don’t know. One I am aware of. One I’ve heard of. You need to be telling me this. Christ!”
FS: “But you are aware it is dark and we can’t see anything?”
CG: “And what do you want? To go back home, Schettino? It’s dark and you want to go back home? Get on the bow of the ship and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what do they need. Now!”
FS: “I am here with the second commander.”
CG: “Excuse me?”
FS: “I am here with the second commander his name is, ”
CG: “So both of you, get on board, both of you. What is the name of the second?”
FS: “Dimitry.”
CG: “Dimitry who?”
FS: “Dimitry,  “ (Unclear)
CG: “You and your second commander, go and get on board now. Is that clear?”
FS: “I want to get on board the ship but the other lifeboat has stopped its engine and it is drifting and I called other rescuers.”
CG: “It’s already one hour you are telling me this. Now, get on board. Get on board! And you tell me how many people there are.”
FS: “OK, Captain.”
CG: “Go, right now!”

After a short break and with rescue workers struggling to evacuate the remaining passengers and crew from the ship, the exchange between Capt De Falco and Capt Schettino continues:
CG: “Captain, I am De Falco from Livorno.”
FS: “I have called the company and they told me there are hundreds of people on board the ship. I think.”
CG: “Captain can you not give me an exact number?”
FS: “It seems like it’s 100. Captain, I am not able to give you the exact number. Earlier we were carrying out the evacuation of all the passengers and now all of us officers are here.”
CG: “Where are you? You and your officers are all on the lifeboat?”
FS: “Yes, me and the second commander, ”
CG: “Excuse me but earlier it was just you and your sailor and now you are telling me that you are there with the officers. So you could have continued the evacuation? Why don’t you go back on board and see what is happening and then tell us?
FS: “At the moment, ”
CG: “Get back on board! Send someone back on board to coordinate.”
FS: “I am coordinating at the moment.”
CG: “I am giving you an order captain. You must send someone on board.”
FS: “We are going on board to coordinate.”
CG: “Exactly, you have to go back on board to coordinate the evacuation. Is that clear?”
FS: “But we can’t go back on board now.”
CG: “Why did you get them off Captain?
FS: “They abandoned the ship.”
CG: “One hundred people still on board and you abandoned the ship?
FS: “I didn’t abandon any ship because the ship turned on its side quickly and we were catapulted into the water.”
CG: “We will see later what happened. OK. But from now you let me know everything that is happening. You stay on the life boat and don’t you go away. Is that clear?”
FS: “We are here, we are here.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9021456/Cruise-disaster-word-by-angry-word-coastguard-accuses-Concordia-captain-of-abandoning-passengers.html

[size=14pt]Costa Concordia: What happened[/size]
BBC News

At least 11 people died and 24 are missing after the Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground with more than 4,000 passengers and crew on 13 January, only hours after leaving the Italian port of Civitavecchia. The maps and graphics below reveal details about the vessel and its ill-fated journey.

At 9:30pm (2030 GMT), two and a half hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia, the Costa Concordia hit a rocky outcrop as it sailed past the island of Giglio.

As the ship took on water, the captain tried to turn it towards the island's port, but the ship started to tilt and sink.

At 10:10pm, the abandon ship signal was given. Most passengers escaped in lifeboats, but evacuation efforts were hampered by the angle of the tilting ship and others were winched to safety by helicopter.

The rescue continued over the weekend, with the ship's safety officer, Marrico Giampietroni, being discovered and evacuated with a broken leg at 12:00pm on Sunday. A South Korean couple were also rescued. The search continues for the missing.

Captain Francesco Schettino, now under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter, said the rocks were not marked on maps and were not detected by navigation systems.

But the ship's owners, Costa Cruises, said the captain had made an "unapproved, unauthorised" deviation in course, sailing too close to the island in order to show the ship to locals.

Automatic tracking systems show the route of the Costa Concordia until it ran aground on 13 January. Data from 14 August last year shows the ship followed a similar course close to the shoreline, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence. On 6 January this year, it passed through the same strait but sailed much further from the island.

Investigators have recovered the "black box" system similar to those used by aircraft, that record voices on the bridge, as well as radar position and other data, which they hope will explain how the incident happened.

Divers have been searching the ship as it rests on the seabed in about 20m of water. The operation has been suspended a number of times as the ship has shifted position. The sea floor eventually drops to about 100m.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16563562

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more like he jumped into a life boat. . . .

selfish man. . . he should be locked up

Its possible he did indeed fall on the boat.

The ship was listing on its side at an almost 45 degree angle.

Lord have mercy sha.

Aa ni rin lojo tebi npona. May the victims rip.


And i really wanted to go on a cruise last year- couldnt make it because of the funding factor.

The captain loves his life too.

who wan die! Captain or no captain,

Abeg leave the guy o!

morpheus24:

The captain loves his life too.

who wan die! Captain or no captain,

Abeg leave the guy o!

Are you joking? That's not how it goes, bud. How would you like to see an airplane pilot unbuckle his seatbelt and run out of the plane while passengers are still strapped in after a bad landing. Come on.

Also, the accident was HIS FAULT!