Cruise disaster: Captain made ‘unauthorised’ deviation but ship was safe, says chairman

THE captain of the ship which hit rocks off the Italian coast at the weekend made “an unapproved” and “unauthorised” deviation from the ship’s route, the liner’s owner has said.

Pier Luigi Foschi, the chairman of Costa Cruises, apologised today as the death toll from the tragedy rose to six . At the centre of the investigation into the disaster is the liner’s captain, Francesco Schettino. According to reports, he was “showing off” and sailed as close to land as he could in order to salute a friend on the shore. He also faces accusations that he abandoned the vessel before ensuring that all of the 4,200 people aboard, including 35 Britons, were safely evacuated.

While British survivors told of the panic on board after the ship began to list, Mr Foschi said the liner had passed all safety and technical tests in its 2011 evaluation, however, the ships’ masters’ union Nautilus said vessels of the size of the Costa Concordia were “inherently unstable”. The UK Chamber of Shipping and the European Cruise Council meanwhile said that such ships met stringent safety regulations which had recently been tightened.

Explaining that the ship was “ultra safe”, Mr Foschi said the captain had made an unauthorised and unapproved deviation from the ship’s programmed course.

Mr Foschi said: “This route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a manoeuvre by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa. Personally and on behalf of the Costa Crociere (Cruises) I want to say we are very sorry for this tragic accident that’s happened.”

Capt Schettino, who has commanded the ship since it was built in 2006, has said he is not to blame and that nautical charts did not show the rocks off the tiny island of Giglio.

James Thomas, 19, from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, a dancer who helped to direct petrified passengers off the vessel, said the instruction to abandon ship should have been given “an hour earlier, if not more”.

Mr Thomas said people on board “knew something was deadly wrong” when the ship began to tilt.

He went on: “We knew we were going to have to do something drastic to get out of the situation we were in. Even if it was ‘just in case’ it (the call to abandon ship) should have been called an hour earlier, if not more.”

Mr Thomas added: “All I came off with was wet trousers and wet shoes, luckily without any injuries.But I saw people with some horrific injuries and that is one thing which I am never going to be able to get out of my head which is the worst thing. “

Another survivor, Rose Metcalf, 23, from Wimborne in Dorset, said: “There was absolute panic. It was just terrifying, it was a case of just trying to keep people calm. People were white, people were crying, screaming.”

The search for survivors continued today until it had to be suspended in early afternoon after the vessel shifted a few inches in rough seas before resuming once the weather had improved.

Costa Cruises are also concerned about the 500,000 gallons of fuel on board which are in 17 separate tanks.