Princess Chatter

"Italian magistrates will be asked to investigate claims that Costa Cruises, owner of the Concordia ocean liner which ran aground off the Italian coast 11 days ago, tried to cover up a similar incident in 2005, when their Fortuna vessel allegedly struck rocks near Sorrento.

Roberto Cappello, who was working as an official photographer for the company at the time, said that the Fortuna appeared to hit rocks during a close approach to the coast near the southern port in May 2005. He said photographs he took showing the listing cabins and damage to the vessel were confiscated by company officials. His allegations will this week be passed to magistrates investigating the Concordia disaster, in which 32 people are feared to have died."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/costa-cruise-hit-rocks-in-2005--and-firm-tried-to-cover-it-up-6293683.html

"A WOMAN reported missing by a Hungarian family in Italy's Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster in fact died three years ago, the Hungarian foreign ministry says."

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/family-lies-about-relative-on-italys-costa-concordia-cruise-ship/story-e6frfku0-1226252385026

"The captain of the Costa Concordia was distracted by guests he had invited onto the bridge in the crucial moments before his cruise liner rammed into rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio, one of the ship's senior officers has claimed.

Silvia Coronica, the vessel's third officer, also told investigators that Francesco Schettino panicked in the aftermath of the crash, rushing "from one part of the bridge to the other".

In the 10 minutes before the collision, he was seem chatting on the bridge with one of the ship's pursers and its head waiter, who had been asked up to the bridge to watch the liner perform a nautical 'fly-by' past his home island.

"The people who came up to the bridge with Schettino were disturbing the ship's navigation," Ms Coronica told investigators.

"The maitre d'hotel was chatting, disturbing the steering, with a consequent impact on concentration."

The ship was travelling at 15 knots as it steamed to within 150 yards of Giglio's coast – too fast for such a delicate operation, the officer added.

The evidence given to investigating judges also revealed scenes of panic down in the engine room, as water began to gush in through the hole torn by a huge lump of granite that was broken off from by the force of the impact.

"Descending down a stairway into deck B, I opened the door and I saw the tear in the hull and the water that was coming in. In the space of two minutes it was completely flooded," said Alberto Fiorito, the engine room's duty officer. "I opened the door to the main electrical room but there was already nearly two metres of water."

He was being interviewed by an Italian television network when a smartly-dressed middle-aged blonde woman employed by Costa Cruises swept into the lobby, ordered him not to do any more interviews, and whisked him away.

When he was interviewed by police in the nearby town of Orbetello several hours later, the computer was no longer with him.

Costa Cruises denied that its employee had obtained the laptop. "After contacting the person involved, Costa Cruises categorically denies that it has received anything at all from Capt Schettino," the company said in a statement."

(and)

"The huge quantities of food that the vessel was carrying – it was at the start of a week-long Mediterranean cruise and had on board more than 4,000 passengers and crew – was rotting and creating a terrible smell."

"Victims' groups and compensation lawyers are now looking at comments made by the Costa Cruises chief executive, Pier Luigi Foschi, to the Corriere Della Sera newspaper, in which he said: "He [Schettino] may have the odd little character problem, although nothing has ever been reported formally. He was seen as being a little hard on his colleagues. He liked to be in the limelight."

Last night, Carlo Rienzi, the president of Italy's national consumer group Codacons, said: "These comments [by Mr Foschi] will form part of the basis for our class action." Codacons is seeking a minimum of €10,000 (£8,300) compensation for all passengers.

Kendall Carver, president of the US-based International Cruise Victims group, said: "It's astonishing that company officials were aware of these 'character problems' but allowed him to have responsibility for over 4,000 people."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/owners-of-stricken-vessel-admit-captain-had-character-problem-6293221.html

"The suggestion of clandestine passengers raises the possibility that either a crew member or a passenger smuggled a friend on board the ship. Passengers might have been invited on board by a crew member at the last minute," said Francesca Maffini, Gabrielli's spokesman.

Another possibility is that some crew members were not registered properly because they were working on the ship illegally. Many of the crew were from India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines."

http://www.theprovince.com/Firm+encouraged+sailpasts+Costa+captain+insists/6036349/story.html

The company, Costa Cruises, a division of Carnival Cruise Lines, denied Sunday that any unregistered passengers would have been on the ship and that it had condoned the close approach to this Tuscan resort island, where the 950-foot ship struck a rock on Jan. 13.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/costa-concordia-may-have-had-unregistered-passengers/articleshow/11599372.cms

"In the newspaper interview he (Schettino) gave last year, he was asked about what impact the sinking of the Titanic had on perceptions of ship safety at the time.

He said: ''Luckily, people quickly forget tragedies.''

http://www.smh.com.au/world/drama-on-the-decks-20120120-1qa4f.html

"Italian prosecutors are hunting for the laptop Capt. Francesco Schettino took with him when he abandoned his sinking luxury liner and slipped to a mystery blonde moments before he was arrested, Italian newspapers reported.

La Repubblica said Sunday prosecutors are especially hot to find the laptop “given the haste with which it changed hands.”

The paper said prosecutors had identified the woman as a lawyer, but that it was unclear if she was working for the cruise line or not.

Witnesses said Schettino had the laptop in a colorful plastic bag when he says he “tripped into a lifeboat” and fled the Costa Concordia after running the luxury liner onto rocks off the Tuscan coast Jan. 13, killing at least 30 people.

He claims the voice data recorder quit recording conversations that would show that higher ups had asked him to sail close to the island of Giglio as a form of swaggering “advertising” for the cruise line, La Repubblica reported.

“The Giglio salute on January 13 was planned with the company before we departed from Civitavecchia,” he said, according to excerpts from his 135-page statement leaked to the Italian press and published Sunday.

“We had meant to do it the week before, but it was not possible because of bad weather,” he said. “They insisted. They said, ‘We can be seen and we can get some publicity.’ So I said ‘okay.’”

Cruise line Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of Carnival Cruise Lines, has said Schettino deviated from the regular route without permission in an attempt to impress passengers.

In his statement, he also denied that the young blonde Moldovan dancer with whom he had dinner that night, Domnica Cemortan, was on the bridge proper when he ordered the “sail-by” of Giglio.

“She was on the threshhold,” he said. “She wasn’t on the bridge because I don’t let anyone there.”

The married skipper said he didn’t even know her last name. “She was our mutual friend who was on board, she had been part of the staff on other occasions,” he said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/death-toll-reaches-13-costa-concordia-tragedy-article-1.1009913