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.”

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Anorak

Posted: 18th, January 2012 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (10)