Yesterday at 7.55 pm, when the news came that Francesco Schettino could go home, it was clear that investigators were looking into other people’s responsibilities in the Costa Concordia disaster. The captain of the cruise line is certainly to blame but he is probably not the only culprit. Hence the need to reconstruct all that evening’s communications and in particular the orders given by his superiors at the Costa company. Investigators want to know what advice Captain Schettino received when he spoke to Roberto Ferrarini, the man in charge of Costa’s crisis unit and fleet management.
Crucially, Mr Ferrarini is the man Captain Schettino spoke to on the phone three times before the evacuation. The decision by magistrate Valeria Montesarchio not to confirm the public prosecutor’s detention order, and to issue a ruling granting the captain house arrest, reveals a divergence of opinions that is obvious from the comment of Grosseto’s public prosecutor Francesco Verusio: “I fail to comprehend the investigating magistrate’s order. I am keen to read the statement of grounds, which I and my colleagues will be perusing together tomorrow”. This is the new starting point, the realisation that the chain of errors and omissions committed on Friday night could have been the result of collective decisions. It’s a possibility suggested by the in places paradoxical and unbelievable line of defence adopted by Captain Schettino at the validation hearing, which opened with the notification of charges.
Excessive speed and abandoning passengers
In the arrest warrant, Captain Schettino is accused, together with the first bridge officer Ciro Ambrosi, of “acting with imprudence, negligence and incompetence exceeding a velocity of 15 knots while in proximity of hazards, in such a manner as to be unable to take appropriate and effective action to avoid collisions and stop the vessel within a distance consonant with the circumstances and conditions at the time, and of having thus caused the wreck”. Speaking on oath, Captain Schettino told the magistrate that he had done everything possible to protect passengers from problems but was then forced to admit that he had made mistakes. “I’m a victim of my own kindness” he said, attempting to justify his actions when he was questioned on the sail-past of Giglio and asked why he decided to pass so close to the harbour quay. He then confirmed that Mario Palombo was the person he wanted to salute. “In effect, something went wrong during the manoeuvre because I changed course too late”, he said. But I can say that the course was established right from the start. No modifications were made during the voyage. I was sailing without instruments because I knew the waters, having already carried out the manoeuvre three or four times, but the reef came as a surprise. In any case, I can say that I did everything possible to for the safety of the passengers and members of the crew”. To underline his point, the captain offers another detail that has the opposite effect, making him sound a bit of a show-off: “I wasn’t wearing a lifejacket because other people would need it”. The most serious charge for a man in charge of a ship is that he “abandoned 300 people incapable of looking after themselves and who were in his care”. The reference is to the disabled, children and elderly people on board the Concordia who were left to fend for themselves while “Schettino, despite his legal obligations, was not the last to disembark”. It is a grave offence but above all a dishonour that the captain attempted yesterday to explain away with a barely credible reconstruction: “I had no intention of running away. I was assisting some passengers to launch one of the lifeboats. At a certain point, the lowering apparatus jammed and we had to force it. All of a sudden, the apparatus started up again and I ended up in the lifeboat with a number of passengers”. It’s a curious line of defence if we bear in mind that in the same lifeboat were the second officer Dimitrios Christidis and the third officer Silvia Coronica. Did they just happen to be there, too?
Drug test and orders from above
Captain Schettino is adamant that “it was impossible to get back on board”. In the phone calls, he sounds in shock to the point of being emotionally disturbed. “I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and I don’t take drugs. Do anything you want”, he said agreeing to take a drug test, which was not required when he was detained. Nor was he made to take a blood alcohol test, even though one is routine in less serious circumstances, such as road accidents. In fact, there are many odd points about his behaviour on Friday night. Too many. This is a cue to find out whether anyone may have influenced his decisions, and what could have provoked such a massive underestimation of what was going on. As the magistrates wait for the phone records that will reveal who Captain Schettino had contact with from the moment of the impact until the time of the evacuation, there are recordings of the conversations on the bridge and statements from those who were acting with him. The evidence was collected by Carabinieri and coastguard officers. This morning, a meeting of prosecuting magistrates will decide whether to formalise the charges of abandoning the ship against Christidis and Coronica. But other ship’s officers could also be involved in the inquiry since lack of coordination left the Concordia with no one in charge when hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of passengers were still on board. Then there are what are referred to as “consultations” with Costa company executives. Before the evacuation and the failure to drop anchor
The first phone conversation with Mr Ferrarini was at 10.05 pm. It was followed by two more calls before the order to abandon ship arrived at 10.58 pm. What happened in the intervening hour? Why was so much precious time wasted? Captain Schettino plays down what happened but was he invited to be cautious and not to launch a distress call that could have had serious consequences, both economic and in terms of the future ownership of the vessel? Roberto Ferrarini will have to explain this, in view of the statements by the other officers who were with Captain Schettino and could hear his phone calls. Another surprising detail that the captain had to admit yesterday will also have to be taken into account. Initially, Captain Schettino said he had dropped anchor after colliding with the reef. But a film made by financial police officers who arrived on the scene just ten minutes after the disaster demonstrates that this is not true. The 40-minute video, which has been included in the case file, shows that Captain Schettino did not stop the Concordia, as he claimed in his communications to prove that the vessel was still upright. The sound of the anchors being lowered can be heard long after his assurances. Did he decide to do this on his own or did someone prompt him? Yesterday, Captain Schettino admitted to magistrates that he had lied on this point but he was vague about his contacts with Costa headquarters: “I can’t even remember whether I called them or they called me”. The phone records will clear this up. And then Costa executives will have a few more questions to answer.
Source: Corriere della sera
No comments:
Post a Comment