Captain kept quiet that ship struck reef
Source: Agencies |
January 20, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A NEW audiotape emerged yesterday of the first contact between Livorno port officials and the Costa Concordia - a full 30 minutes after it had rammed into a reef - with the captain heard insisting that his cruise ship only suffered "a blackout."
Captain Francesco Schettino, who was jailed after he left the ship before everyone was safely evacuated, is under house arrest, facing possible charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship.
The US$450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it struck well-marked rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio after Schettino made an unauthorized diversion last Friday from his scheduled route. The ship then keeled over on its side.
Eleven people have been confirmed dead and 21 others are still missing.
The recording between Schettino and port officials began at 10:12pm on Friday - more than 30 minutes after the ship hit a reef and panicked passengers had fled the dining room to get their lifejackets.
Recordings of Schettino's conversations with coast guard officials after the ship crashed on its side have shown how he resisted repeated orders to return on board to oversee the evacuation.
In a new recording released yesterday, the first communication between the ship and Livorno port authorities, Schettino is heard assuring the officer that he was checking out the reasons for the blackout. But he doesn't volunteer that the ship had hit a reef.
Rather, the port officer tells Schettino that his agency had heard from a relative of one of ship's sailors that "during dinner everything fell on their heads." That was an apparent reference to the plates and glasses that slammed down onto passengers in the main dining room.
"We are verifying the conditions on board," Schettino replies. Asked if passengers had been told to put on life jackets, he responds: "Correct."
Crew members and passengers have complained about the chaotic evacuation and lack of direction from management.
"They asked us to make announcements to say that it was electrical problems and that our technicians were working on it and to not panic," steward Thibault Francois told France-2 television yesterday. "I told myself, 'this doesn't sound good.'"
Divers, meanwhile, restarted the search yesterday for those still missing, but a forecast of rough seas added uncertainty to the operation and to plans to begin pumping fuel from the stranded vessel.
Crews set off small explosions to blow holes into hard-to-reach areas.
Italian authorities have identified 32 people who either died or are missing.
Captain Francesco Schettino, who was jailed after he left the ship before everyone was safely evacuated, is under house arrest, facing possible charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship.
The US$450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it struck well-marked rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio after Schettino made an unauthorized diversion last Friday from his scheduled route. The ship then keeled over on its side.
Eleven people have been confirmed dead and 21 others are still missing.
The recording between Schettino and port officials began at 10:12pm on Friday - more than 30 minutes after the ship hit a reef and panicked passengers had fled the dining room to get their lifejackets.
Recordings of Schettino's conversations with coast guard officials after the ship crashed on its side have shown how he resisted repeated orders to return on board to oversee the evacuation.
In a new recording released yesterday, the first communication between the ship and Livorno port authorities, Schettino is heard assuring the officer that he was checking out the reasons for the blackout. But he doesn't volunteer that the ship had hit a reef.
Rather, the port officer tells Schettino that his agency had heard from a relative of one of ship's sailors that "during dinner everything fell on their heads." That was an apparent reference to the plates and glasses that slammed down onto passengers in the main dining room.
"We are verifying the conditions on board," Schettino replies. Asked if passengers had been told to put on life jackets, he responds: "Correct."
Crew members and passengers have complained about the chaotic evacuation and lack of direction from management.
"They asked us to make announcements to say that it was electrical problems and that our technicians were working on it and to not panic," steward Thibault Francois told France-2 television yesterday. "I told myself, 'this doesn't sound good.'"
Divers, meanwhile, restarted the search yesterday for those still missing, but a forecast of rough seas added uncertainty to the operation and to plans to begin pumping fuel from the stranded vessel.
Crews set off small explosions to blow holes into hard-to-reach areas.
Italian authorities have identified 32 people who either died or are missing.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
