Epress.am News from Armenia
The Costa Concordia’s captain was blamed for the disaster by his company last night as passengers told how he was parading around a bar with a glamorous woman shortly before the liner hit rocks, The Daily Mirror reported.
Francesco Schettino, 52, the captain of the 114,500 tone Costa Concordia, was arrested Saturday, accused of manslaughter and abandoning his ship before all of the more than 4,200 passengers and crew had been evacuated.
Schettino’s employers, Costa Crociere, said in a statement Sunday that he appeared to have made “serious errors of judgment” and had brought the ship too close to shore, where it struck a rock that tore a large hole in the hull, Reuters reported.
The disaster occurred when the ship struck a rock as dinner was being served Friday night, triggering scenes of panic that witnesses said were like the film “Titanic” with passengers jostling to get on lifeboats and some leaping into the icy sea.
Schettino was still being questioned by police last night as detectives investigated claims he was drinking in one of the liner’s bars hours before the tragedy.
Monique Maurek, 41, from the Netherlands, said: “I saw the captain spending much of the night drinking in the bar with a beautiful woman on his arm.
“Most people did not even have a clue what the evacuation warning sound would be. It’s only because some of us had already been on a cruise that we recognized that seven blasts of the horn was a signal to abandon ship.”
An Italian Coastguard boss said Schettino was seen on land while the evacuation was ongoing.
Commander Francesco Paolillo said last night that officers had urged the captain to return to his ship to honour his obligation to stay aboard until everyone else was off but he ignored them. Mr Paolillo said: “We did our duty to remind Francesco Schettino of his obligation.”
A French couple said they had seen the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, before all passengers were off the liner.
Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays said they were “furious”. Military officer Gondelle, 28, added: “The commander was on the dock before everyone was off.” Briton Phil Metcalf, whose daughter Rose was a dancer on the liner and who was one of the last people off the vessel, said she told him Schettino abandoned ship in the early stages of the evacuation.
The Concordia regularly passed close to Giglio island but residents said they had never seen the liner so near to the reefs.
Locals say the rocks – known as Le Scole – are well known. The ship struck the rocks, opening up the left hand underside, letting thousands of gallons of water in. Fifteen minutes after the impact Schettino ordered the anchor to be dropped to turn the ship around and return towards land.
But it sped up the intake of water and led to the ship turning on to its side.