Costa Concordia disaster: Wealthy Russians ‘bribed crew with fistfuls of cash to skip lifeboat queue’

THE captain of the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia may have been “distracted” by too many people being on the ship’s bridge, it has emerged, as two more bodies were recovered from the wreckage.

The revelation about Captain Francesco Schettino was made by third-in-command Silvia Coronika in a statement to investigators, who said Schettino took the disastrous course by showboating, to impress the head waiter of the ship.

Two more bodies were recovered from the ship capsized off the Italian coast yesterday, bringing the death toll to fifteen, as divers continue their grim search.

Bodies of the two women were found in the internet cafe in a submerged section of the ship and were located after further holes had been blown into the superstructure of the Concordia by navy divers.

Last week, it emerged that purser Antonello Tievoli, head waiter, had been invited on to the bridge by the skipper as the ship sailed past his home island of Giglio. There have also been suggestions that Costa cruises rep Domnica Cemortan, 24, may have also been close by on the command deck.

In response to questioning by prosecutors Ms Coronika said: “The people on the bridge who arrived with Schettino were a disturbance to the sailing.” She went on: “There was such a lot of confusion and my recollection is a little unclear because of all the chaos from the shouting and the various messages that were going backwards and forwards.”

Ms Coronika described how the Concordia captain was distracted and said: “I just want to say that there was a number of people present on the bridge with Schettino and who were not relevant to sailing the ship, including the purser.

“There were people asking what island it was, the purser was chatting away, in short they were disturbing the navigation of the ship and it led to a drop in attention.”

Schettino has claimed that his bosses ordered him to carry out the “sail-by salute” as a publicity stunt and that it had been advertised in the ship’s newsletter.

Meanwhile Italian prosecutors are investigating claims from eyewitnesses to the evacuation that wealthy Russian passengers aboard the Concordia “bought” places in lifeboats ahead of women, children and the elderly.

The prosecutors have allegedly taken evidence from some passengers that “the disabled were left to fend for themselves” as well-off Russians thrust bundles of money into the hands of eager crewmen as the ship listed and began to sink.

Franca Anichini, 52, who lives directly on the harbour on the island of Giglio where evacuees from the ship were brought after the disaster on 13 January, said: “I went to the boats as I saw them coming in expecting to see women, children and the injured but all I saw were healthy men and elegant women in evening gowns who were speaking Russian.”

Dramatic testimony also came from engine room chief Giuseppe Pilon: “I heard some loud bangs and at first thought they were the cages moving in the luggage hold. I went to the central control room and asked an officer what was happening and he just shouted back ‘There’s water, there’s water.’

“I said to control that the watertight doors were shut as they should have been. I just managed to get the words out and then there was a total blackout.”

He went on: “I told Schettino the situation, telling him the engine room and the back, the electric circuits and the stern decks. I told him that we had lost control of the ship. I told him of the seriousness of the situation several times afterwards.”

Discovery of the women’s bodies came minutes after Franco Gabrielli, the commissioner in charge of the rescue effort, confirmed that the ship was stable and there was no danger of it slipping from the rock shelf.