It has just emerged that the captain of the Costa Concordia was able to abandon his ship around 30 minutes before hundreds of passengers did. This information has been found out since the transcript has been released of a conversation between the local coastguard and the captain.
The captain of the vessel was Francesco Schettino and he’s going to be questioned by a magistrate investigating the case. It has also emerged that the captain possibly lied to the captain of the coastguard when he was telling the coastguard how many people were on board the liner.
When asked by the coastguard how many people were on the ship after he had left, he stated that there were 40, but it is now known that there were hundreds of people left on board. The first call to the vessel occurred at around 10 o’clock in the evening and the captain informed that the vessel had run aground about 30 minutes before. The captain was not in touch for nearly 3 hours and by the time he was the evacuation had begun 40 minutes earlier.
When asked by the coastguard why he was not still on board the vessel he stated that it was because he had given the order to abandon ship. The coastguard then told him to return to the ship so he could coordinate the rest of the evacuation, but he refused to do so. The coastguard insisted that he was in charge and ordered the captain to return but again he refused.
The captain has been named as the most hated man in Italy and a Facebook group has been started where people are venting anger at the captain for putting so many lives at risk. He has also been shamed because of his failure to stay with his sinking ship while others were unable to escape. The total death toll has now reached seven people but there are still nearly 30 people who are unaccounted for, including four crew members.
The captain is facing over 10 years in prison on the charge of manslaughter and he is due to appear in court soon. The chiefs of the company in charge of the cruise liner are criticising him for making an unapproved decision to sail so close to the island.
The cruise liner had a value of £400 million and it was sailing only 300 yards away from the coast of the island. The path the liner was supposed to be taking meant it was supposed to be four miles away from the shore. Many rocks are located along the shore of the island and these caused a hole over 160 feet long down the hull.
After escaping the vessel and arriving at the shore the captain was arrested along with his first officer. He had reached the shore over four hours before the evacuation of his vessel had finished. Many people are angry that he did not keep with the maritime tradition of staying with his ship until the very last moment.
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