Ship Captain Defends Actions

 

 

 

 

 

             

The captain of a cruise ship that overturned off the coast of Italy, killing five, blames faulty charts for the mishap. Maritime authorities, passengers and mounting evidence point the finger of blame towards the captain. The cruise ship ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast near Giglio. They have accused him of showing off when he steered the vessel far too close to shore and abandoned ship before everyone was safely evacuated. Divers searching the partially submerged Costa Concordia found the bodies of two elderly men still in their life jackets, bringing the confirmed death toll to five. 

Three survivors were found - a young South Korean couple on their honeymoon and a crew member brought to shore in a dramatic airlift about 36 hours after the grounding late on Friday.At least 15 people were still missing.

  Meanwhile, attention focused on the captain, who was spotted by Coast Guard officials and passengers fleeing the scene even as the chaotic and terrifying evacuation was under way. The ship's Italian owner, a subsidiary of Carnival Cruise lines, issued a statement late on Sunday saying there appeared to be "significant human error" on the part of the captain, Francesco Schettino, "which resulted in these grave consequences". Authorities were holding Mr Schettino for suspected manslaughter and a prosecutor confirmed on Sunday they were also investigating allegations the captain abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had escaped.

According to the Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons a ship in danger can face up to 12 years in prison. A French couple who boarded the Concordia in Marseille, Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays, told the Associated Press they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, well before all the passengers were off the ship. "The commander left before and was on the dock before everyone was off," said Ms Gondelle, 28, a French military officer. Coast Guard officers later spotted Mr Schettino on land as the evacuation unfolded. The officers urged him to return to his ship and honour his duty to stay aboard until everyone was safely off the vessel, but he ignored them, Coast Guard Commander Francesco Paolillo said. Mr Schettino insisted he did not leave the liner early, telling Mediaset television that he had done everything he could to save lives. "We were the last ones to leave the ship," he said.
Questions also swirled about why the ship had navigated so close to the dangerous reefs and rocks off Giglio's eastern coast, amid suspicions the captain may have ventured too close while carrying out a manoeuvre to entertain tourists on the island. The ship's owner, Costa Crociere SpA, issued a statement late on Sunday saying it was working with investigators to determine "precisely what went wrong aboard the Costa Concordia". "While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship's master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences," the statement said.  "The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the captain's judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures." Residents of Giglio said they had never seen the Costa come so close to the dangerous "Le Scole" reef area.

The ship was a mere 150 metres from shore at the time of the grounding, ANSA quoted Grosseto prosecutor Francesco Verusio as saying. Mr Schettino insisted he was twice as far out and said the ship ran aground because the rocks weren't marked on his nautical charts. However, he did concede he was manoeuvring the ship in "touristic navigation" - implying a route that was a deviation from the norm and designed to entertain the tourists. "We were navigating approximately 300 metres from the rocks," he told Mediaset television. "There shouldn't have been such a rock. On the nautical chart it indicated that there was water deep below." Costa captains have occasionally steered the ship near port and sounded the siren in a special salute, Arienti said. "Many ships pass by Giglio to salute the island's inhabitants with a whistle. It is a beautiful spectacle to watch the illuminated ship from land ... This time things went badly," daily La Repubblica quoted Giglio mayor Sergio Ortelli as saying.

Officials say cruise liners normally sail about two to three nautical miles off Giglio. Prosecutor Francesco Verusio said the ship was so close to the island that hitting rocks was "inevitable". He noted that the captain was "certainly not the last to leave the ship".
The ship's "black box" has been recovered and was expected to shed light on the vessel's final movements, while there was growing concern about a possible oil spill, with the ship carrying an estimated 2380 tonnes of diesel fuel.