Costa Concordia: Francesco Schettino, Dimitri Christidis and Silvia Coronia fell into a lifeboat
COSTA Concordia captain, Francesco Schettino, says he was not the last man to leave the stricken vessel because he fell into a lifeboat and against his will and at the mercy of the fates made it to safety with people still on his ship. Schettino had earlier given the order to perform a “inchino” (a sail-by salute) to a former colleague on the island of Giglio, with whom he was speaking on the telephone. This caused the Costa Concordia to hit a rock and 11 people to die – 22 more are missing.
Says Schettino to the La Repubblica from his home at Meta di Sorrento on the Amalfi coast near Naples:
“The route was decided at the departure in Civitavecchia, but I made a mistake on the approach to shore. I was navigating by sight because I know the depths there well and I had done that manoeuvre three or four times before. But this time I ordered the change of course too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow. I don’t know why it happened. I was lost in my thoughts.”
But in this reverie, how did Schettino end up in a lifeboat?
Telephone recordings from the night of the shipwreck feature a coastguard official advising a departing Mr Schettino to “Get the f*** aboard”.
Schettino says he managed to save “thousands of lives”, gave a passenger a life jacket to a customer, and:
“Unexpectedly, seeing that the boat was listing 60 or 70 degrees, I stumbled and ended up in one of those lifeboats. That’s why I found myself there.”
Well, so says La Repubblica. The Corriere della Sera has another version:
“I had no intention of running away. I was helping some passengers get one of the lifeboats in the sea and at a certain point the lowering mechanism got blocked and we had to force it. Unexpectedly, the system reactivated and I, having been knocked over, found myself inside the lifeboat together with a number of passengers.”
And that is how it happened.
And by fluke and accident also in that lifeboat were Dimitri Christidis, the ship’s second officer, and Silvia Coronia, the No 3.
Accidents really do come in threes..
Sergio Ortelli, the mayor of Giglio, takes up the tale of how the three men arrived on his island in their boat:
“My police chief told me that evening that the captain was on the rocks just in front of the boat shortly after 11pm. He was dry. He did not swim.
There were many people still inside the boat. He’s incredible, this man.”
Maybe he walked?
January 21st, 2012 at 9:33 pm
The difference is that we are paying it off, not expecting the people next door but one to pay it off for us
January 21st, 2012 at 6:34 pm
What a silly comment, Italy has more debt than the UK on a governmental level, however British people have more debt than Italian people. The captain did what every other selfish unmoral capitalist would have done.
January 20th, 2012 at 8:14 pm
Typical Italian idiot who thinks with his genitalia than his brain. No wonder the whole country is broke
January 20th, 2012 at 7:43 pm
I don’t know when everyone turned stupid, but the Captain did what any sane non-retarded person would and left. If you would stay on a sinking boat you’re stupid. I’m wondering why people didn’t try to save the captain, if it was military that’s what would’ve happenned. Superiors die first for the tards. k
January 20th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
I have several friends who are licensed “100 ton” pilots, and though we can be sure certain details of the story as we know it today will eventually be shown to false, the overwhelming evidence is that Schettino’s behavior was no credit to his post or his rank. They universally condemn his behavior.
Though my background may be considered (remotely) Italian American, I certainly admit that Schettino exemplifies many of the poor stereotypes that mar the reputation of Italian men, thankfully Capt. Gregorio De Falco exhortions to get back on board show him to be a man who eschews excuses preferring that one “man up” and do one’s duty. Thankfully after suffering through Schettino’s recorded whining, I also see the video images of coast guard divers methodically and bravely searching throughout the ship. Now I hear the recent news of Schettino’s likely romantic involvement with Domnica Cemortan, and I must say that this only serves to heighten the contrast between an image of a man who more flash than substance, and men of action.
As to blame, It seems that as long as these tourist detours were uneventful, the company was willing to overlook violations of protocol. Now that lives were lost, they are shocked, *shocked*, to find out that these alterations of the planned route took place.
January 20th, 2012 at 11:51 am
presumably he must have shown a degree of competence to get the job in the first place – that doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of behaving like a complete moron. Apparently he had done this sort of thing before – only he got away with it before.
Allegedly, he has admitted that he made the turn too late – that shows lack of professionalism and a certain amount of complacency and arrogance.
I suspect none of the above traits was evident when he was sat in front of somebody looking to employ him. Then there is the issue of deserting the ship before securing everyone’s safety first….
it is definitely an uncomfortable feeling that such people can slip through the net into such a responsible position, but how is it disrespectful to those who died? surely it is important to have the debate and expose the failures which led to this tragedy?
January 20th, 2012 at 9:33 am
“Sergio Ortelli, the mayor of Giglio, takes up the tale of how the three men arrived on his island in their boat.”
No, it was 2 men and a woman. The third officer, Silvia Coronia, is a woman. She was on the same boat as the captain and the second too.
January 20th, 2012 at 9:31 am
Oh I dunno Yampster several do blame a company’s country of origin …BP.
But the captain is a grown man and as he is still alive he is answerable for not only his failure to perform his job whilst under duress but also for the silly antics of sailing too close to land in what he claims were unchartered waters. The buck stops with him
I would have felt uncomfortable had I been on the ship as in rather wet but not otherwise
Perhaps you could blame his parents too nemi?
January 20th, 2012 at 9:19 am
Just because the organisation is UK/USA based you can’t transfer responsibility for this disaster on the populations of the USA and the UK. It doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable at all. I don’t care whether he was up the mast steering the ship with strings or asleep in his cabin following a spin session in the ship’s gym when disaster struck. He is the captain and that carries reponsibility under maritime law.
January 19th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Before this ship ran aground, there was a UK/USA based organisation who considered Francesco Schettino to be competent enough to put him in charge of a multi-million pound cruise-liner with the lives of thousands of customers in his hands.
Now, he is your comedy stereotypical Italian who personally, and single-handedly, drove his ship onto the rocks before “accidentally” falling into a life-boat.
Does this not make you feel uncomfortable? Don’t you think this kind of reporting is disrespectful to the people who died?