Cruise ship's captain may face possible manslaughter charges
Source: Agencies |
January 16, 2012, Monday
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A helicopter yesterday airlifted a third survivor from the capsized hulk of a luxury cruise ship 36 hours after it ran aground off the Italian coast, as prosecutors said they were investigating the captain for manslaughter charges and accused him of abandoning his ship.
Meanwhile, the Italian Coast Guard says its divers have found two more bodies aboard the stricken Costa Concordia cruise ship.
The discovery of the bodies brings to five the number of known dead after the luxury ship ran aground with some 4,200 people aboard on Friday night.
The Coast Guard said yesterday the bodies of the two elderly people were found in the submerged restaurant.
A South Korean couple on their honeymoon were rescued late Saturday in the unsubmerged part of the liner when firefighters heard their screams.
There are now still 15 people who haven't been located, Tuscany's regional president Enrico Rossi said.
Authorities were holding the captain, Francesco Schettino, for suspected manslaughter among other possible charges and a prosecutor yesterday confirmed they are investigating allegations the captain abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had escaped.
Asked yesterday by Sky TG24 about the accusations, Grosseto prosecutor Francesco Verusio replied, "unfortunately, I must confirm that circumstance."
A French couple who boarded the Concordia in Marseille, Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays of Marseille, said they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, well before all the passengers were off the ship. They insisted on telling a reporter what they saw, so incensed that - according to them - the captain had left the ship before everyone had been evacuated.
"The commander left before and was on the dock before everyone was off," said Gondelle, a French military officer.
"Normally the commander should leave at the end," said Du Pays, a police officer who said he helped an injured passenger to a rescue boat. "I did what I could."
Under the Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons a ship in danger can face up to 12 years in prison.
Schettino has said the ship hit rocks that weren't marked on his nautical charts, and that he did all that he could to save lives.
Meanwhile, the Italian Coast Guard says its divers have found two more bodies aboard the stricken Costa Concordia cruise ship.
The discovery of the bodies brings to five the number of known dead after the luxury ship ran aground with some 4,200 people aboard on Friday night.
The Coast Guard said yesterday the bodies of the two elderly people were found in the submerged restaurant.
A South Korean couple on their honeymoon were rescued late Saturday in the unsubmerged part of the liner when firefighters heard their screams.
There are now still 15 people who haven't been located, Tuscany's regional president Enrico Rossi said.
Authorities were holding the captain, Francesco Schettino, for suspected manslaughter among other possible charges and a prosecutor yesterday confirmed they are investigating allegations the captain abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had escaped.
Asked yesterday by Sky TG24 about the accusations, Grosseto prosecutor Francesco Verusio replied, "unfortunately, I must confirm that circumstance."
A French couple who boarded the Concordia in Marseille, Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays of Marseille, said they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, well before all the passengers were off the ship. They insisted on telling a reporter what they saw, so incensed that - according to them - the captain had left the ship before everyone had been evacuated.
"The commander left before and was on the dock before everyone was off," said Gondelle, a French military officer.
"Normally the commander should leave at the end," said Du Pays, a police officer who said he helped an injured passenger to a rescue boat. "I did what I could."
Under the Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons a ship in danger can face up to 12 years in prison.
Schettino has said the ship hit rocks that weren't marked on his nautical charts, and that he did all that he could to save lives.
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