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Concordia Captain’s panic heard in court
Black box recordings played to a court room in Italy yesterday showed the full extent of the confusion and chaos on board the Costa Concordia in which 32 people died.
Captain Francesco Schettino and his first officer were heard shouting conflicting instructions to the helmsman just before the collision with rocks just off the island of Giglio in Tuscany.
The court has to decide whether Schettino should face charges of abandoning ship before his passengers and of multiple manslaughter.
Another five crew members may also be indicted after the hearing, which is expected to continue until early next week.
The Captain did not have to attend the hearing but chose to face the survivors and relatives of the victims.
According to reports, he even shook hands with one survivor.
The court heard recordings of Schettino saying "right, let’s go and do a salute" and then, after saying "hard to port", changing his mind and saying "hard to starboard. Close the watertight doors in the engine room".
After the Concordia struck the rocks, the Captain is hearind saying: "So are we really going down? I don’t understand."
It is alleged that he delayed the evacuation by an hour, costing lives.
Although much of the blame is being heaped on the captain, Costa Cruises has also come under fire for its emergency procedures (see earlier story).
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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