Costa Concordia: Italian Captain, Greek Second Officer Fell into Lifeboat…

This must have been a ‘shock’ for skipper of the sinking luxury cruise liner Costa Concordia. Captain Schettini claimed, he was helping  the passengers of the sinking ship to flee, when he fell into a lifeboat. Odd enough,  the ship’s second officer in command from Greece and the ship’s third officer in command from Italy happened to have fallen (?) into the lifeboat as well…

Corriere della Sera had a slightly different version, saying that he claimed to have been propelled into a lifeboat while helping passengers to flee.
“I had no intention of running away,” Captain Schettino said.
Unexplained, however, was the remarkable coincidence of both Dimitri Christidis, the ship’s second officer, and Silvia Coronia, the No 3, being on the same lifeboat.
Investigators are busy piecing together events using the ship’s black box and the testimony of survivors.
Under scrutiny are a series of phone calls between Captain Schettino and Roberto Ferrarini, marine operations director of the ship’s owner, Costa Cruises.
The men spoke three times between 9.42pm, when the liner hit the rocks, and 10.58pm, when the captain belatedly gave the order to abandon ship. (Read Full Story HERE)

 Costa Concordia, the cruise ship with 4,200 people on board capsized last Friday off Italy’s shore. At least 11 people were killed, there are still 2o people missing. The search for survivors has been halted today.

The  first dead victim to be identified was a 38-year-old Hungarian violinist, Sandor Feher.

The captain is under house arrest on suspicion of multiple manslaughter. Prosecutors have also accused him of fleeing the ship before evacuation was complete.

A recording of a call between him and a port official after the crash appears to support this, though Capt Schettino denies the claims.
In the recording, released by the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Livorno Port Authority chief Gregorio De Falco can be heard repeatedly telling the captain to get back on board to help passengers.
“Schettino, maybe you saved yourself from the sea, but I’ll make you have trouble for sure. Go aboard,” says Mr De Falco. (BBC)