Costa Concordia: new video shows panic and disbelief on deck

“This is the story of the Costa Concordia,” says one young crewman,
while another blows a kiss and says “I love you, mamma.”

A third looks more serious and says “We’ll make it”.

Capt Schettino has been accused of procrastinating for around 76 minutes
before giving the order to abandon the ship.

Members of his crew have said that there might not have been any deaths had he
ordered the vessel to be evacuated earlier. The death toll from the accident
is 32 – there are 17 confirmed dead, with another 15 people still missing.

The skipper is under house arrest at his home near Naples and faces charges of
multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship.

A 25-year-old Moldovan woman who had dinner with Capt Schettino has confirmed
to prosecutors that he invited her up onto the bridge in the minutes before
the impact, in order to witness the ship perform a ‘salute’ of Giglio by
sailing close to the island with its sirens sounding and its decks lit up.

Domnica Cemortan said she felt awkward being on the bridge with the captain
and his officers, but that Capt Schettino had insisted she stay.

She told prosecutors in Grosseto, Tuscany, where the investigation is based,
that after the impact she went down to the captain’s cabin to collect
jackets for him and for her, and to retrieve his laptop.

She managed to get into a life boat and reached Giglio’s tiny port at around
12.30am or 1am on the morning of Jan 14.

The passenger rep and former dancer reportedly insisted to prosecutors that
the captain drank only mineral water at dinner, contradicting testimony from
passengers who said they saw the couple sharing a decanter of wine.

Capt Schettino’s wife continued to defend his conduct and said the two pieces
of video showed that he had done his utmost to save lives.

Fabiola Russo said her husband had “wept with joy” when he saw the
footage because he felt that it showed he had behaved correctly in handling
the disaster.

“Thanks to the manoeuvre he carried out, he saved the lives of 4,200
people,” she told Corriere della Sera newspaper. She denied that he was
in a “panic”, insisting that he had coordinated the entire
operation calmly and professionally.

Asked whether she had discussed the nature of her husband’s relationship with
Miss Cemortan, she declined to answer.

The new footage was apparently taken by the same unidentified person who took
the first piece of video, broadcast by TG5 on Friday.

It showed apparent disarray and confusion among officers on the bridge. At one
point an officer told the captain that passengers were already getting into
the lifeboats, before the order to abandon ship had been given, to which he
appeared to reply, in Neapolitan dialect, “Whatever”.

Both pieces of film are being studied by investigators, amid reports that the
chief prosecutor, Francesco Verusio, wants officers on the bridge to explain
why none of them mentioned the existence of the footage.

A mass was held in Rome today for the victims of the disaster.

The ceremony, in the Basilica of Santa Maria of the Angels and Martyrs, was
led by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the president of the Italian Bishops’
Conference, and attended by Giorgio Napolitano, Italy’s president.

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