Pictures: inside the Costa Concordia

By Nick Pisa and Stephen McGinty
Published on Wednesday 18 January 2012 13:05

THE captain of the Costa Concordia pleaded with the coastguard commander who ordered him to return to the ship after discovering the captain had abandoned the vessel and its passengers to save himself.

In an astonishing recording of the conversation between Captain Francesco Schettino and the coastguard commander, the captain makes a series of excuses – including darkness and that the ship is listing – before being told: “You go on board and then you will tell me how many people are there. Is that clear?”

The tape emerged along with reports that junior officers “mutinied” against the captain and his refusal to take charge of the crisis, and that they ordered the abandonment of the ship before Capt Schettino.

The captain had previously insisted he stayed aboard until the ship was evacuated. However, a recording of his conversation with Captain Gregorio De Falco of the Italian Coast Guard indicates he fled before all the passengers were off and resisted orders to return.

The tense conversation took place after midnight, when Capt Schettino was in a lifeboat.

Capt De Falco is heard shouting: “You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear?”

However, Capt Schettino resisted, saying the ship was tipping, it was dark and that he was co-ordinating from the lifeboat.

Capt De Falco shouted back: “And so what? You want to go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!

“You go aboard. It is an order. Don’t make any more excuses. You have declared ‘Abandon ship’. Now I am in charge.”

Capt Schettino was finally heard agreeing to reboard. However, the coast guard has said he never went back. He was later arrested. His lawyer last night said he would be released from jail and placed under house arrest.

Today a taxi driver said that after Capt Schettino had been allowed to leave the harbour master’s office following the disaster, he asked where he could buy a pair of dry socks.

Ottavio Brizzi said: “It was a very short journey, no more than 30 seconds if that. 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.”

According to coastguard and port authorities, Capt Schettino did not give the crucial instructions until 22:58pm on Friday, more than an hour after the initial impact with the rocks, and so wasted time that contributed to the loss of at least 11 lives. About 29 people are still missing.

Officials say that during those chaotic minutes, it was junior officers who realised the impending disaster and ordered passengers and crew to the lifeboats.

Proof of the crew’s “mutiny” came from those on board coast guard vessels at the scene, who reported seeing several lifeboats in the water before Capt Schettino had officially given the order to abandon ship.

According to statements from the crew, it was Roberto Bosio, the second officer, who gave the order to lower the lifeboats, while Capt Schettino ignored reports of flooding in the engine and generator rooms.

Alessandro Di Lena, a junior officer on the Concordia, said in a statement: “For the first 40 minutes after the impact, the ship stayed upright. We could easily have lowered the lifeboats from both sides. We would have reached dry land without even getting our feet wet.”

The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 people when it hit a reef off the Tuscan island of Giglio when Capt Schettino made an unauthorised deviation from the cruise ship’s programmed course, apparently as a favour to his chief waiter, who hailed from the island.

Earlier yesterday, a judge remanded Capt Schettino in custody. He could face up to 12 years in prison on the charge of abandoning ship alone.

One French survivor said the crew panicked and fled, wearing lifejackets, before passengers were properly warned. Daniele Perruchon, 68, said men pushed past children who were crying: “I don’t want to die.”

Ms Perruchon, who was travelling with an elderly friend, said they were abandoned in the darkness as the ship listed. She said: “At no time did anyone come and help us. We felt abandoned. So much for women and children first.”

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• Costa Concordia disaster: Transcript of telephone call between captain and coastguard as cruise ship sinks

  A transcript of a conversation between the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship and a coastguard, translated from the original Italian by Reuters news agency, reveals that the captain was prepared to abandon ship while passengers were still aboard the listing vessel. Captain Francesco Schettino is censured by coastguard Gregorio De Falco for being unable to determine the number of passengers on board, including the dead.

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