"Transcripts released by the Italian coast guard have shown that the power failure came after the collision, when water poured into a gash in the ship's hill and into the engine rooms, causing a power black-out.
But Roberto Ferrarini, who was on duty in the command centre of the Genoa-based company that night, accused the captain of trying to fabricate a very different version of events - that the black-out came first, causing a loss of power that led to the collision.Mr Ferrarini, Costa Cruise's crisis manager, told an Italian Senate committee that Capt Schettino had asked him to "agree with me the position to take with the authorities, to whom he wanted to say that the ship first had a sudden blackout, after which it hit the reef."
Mr Ferrarini said he had immediately rejected the request, telling the captain to come clean as to how the accident happened.He said that on the night of the disaster, he exchanged 17 calls with the bridge of the stricken ship, which had passed perilously close to Giglio in order to perform a 'salute' of the island with its 17 decks lit up and its sirens sounding.
The first communication was at 9.57pm - 15 minutes after the vessel smashed into a large group of rocks known as Le Scole.
The captain allegedly told Mr Ferrarini that although the ship had hit the outcrop, only one of its water-tight compartments was flooded and it was still fully buoyant.There were several more calls in the next half an hour, during which Capt Schettino told his colleague that while the ship had started to list, it was not in serious trouble. His tone and manner was "clear and calm", Mr Ferrarini.
By 10.35pm, however, the veteran commander's account of the accident changed radically - he said he intended to give the order to abandon ship.
Mr Ferrarini said he was shocked and surprised by the communication and accused the skipper of hugely under-playing the crisis."http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9042826/Wife-of-Costa-Concordia-captain-says-it-is-not-for-those-on-land-to-judge-her-husband.html