Princess Chatter

He told prosecutors and the investigating judge, in documents leaked by the Italian media, that the company planned the salutes to time with local public holidays on the islands they were due to cruise past.

Schettino's latest claims were a direct contradiction of what Costa chief Pierluigi Foschi said last week at a press conference where he said a 'sail by had been authorised just once before' in the summer of 2010 off the island of Procida, close to Naples.

His version of events in the 135 page judicial document now raises serious questions over just what Costa Cruises knew the night of the disaster and it may explain why Schettino waited for more than an hour to raise the alarm and why he made a series of phone calls to company chiefs at their HQ in Genoa.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2090214/Costa-Concordia-captain-Francesco-Schettino-claims-bosses-knew-sail-salutes.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

"'Disaster day-trippers' have flocked from all over Italy, many driving for hours, to see the 1,000ft-long, 14-storey luxury liner wedged at an angle of 90 degrees, ten days after it ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

But their curiosity has been criticised as "morbid" by islanders, who say they are being overwhelmed by the influx.

Ferries which run from the mainland port of Porto Santo Stefano to the island were full on Saturday and yesterday, with families and couples drinking beer and eating pizza on the smooth sandstone rocks and patches of sand opposite the capsized ship."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9030910/Costa-Concordia-stricken-cruise-ship-becomes-tourist-spectacle.html

We got the bubbleheaded bleach-blonde, comes on at 5
She can tell you about the [ship] crash with a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry

"Schettino may be a culpable scapegoat, but what is emerging from the testimony of passengers and rescuers is that many of the crew were also seemingly at fault, as there appears to have been no properly co-ordinated attempt to get people safely off the ship.

The deputy mayor on the island of Giglio says he couldn’t find any officers on board to give direction to the panicking passengers.

‘After 20 minutes I couldn’t find anybody... there were a lot of people who wanted help but there was no one guiding them.’

It sounds horrendous: terrified people, water rising around them, fighting to climb up a slippery rope.

All of us like to think we would do the right thing should we ever be in a dire situation. Some suggest Schettino’s response was a classic ‘fight or flight’ response that he was not fully in control of.

In the conversation with the coastguard, he sounds distracted. Some even say his instinct to turn the ship back on to a rocky ledge ultimately saved many lives."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2090111/SUZANNE-MOORE-Could-calm-carry-like-Rose.html

"Alcaro said the most optimistic scenario would be to stabilise the ship and pump the oil out through a technique known as "hot tap".

"The oil on the ship is very thick and sticky, so you'd have to drill a hole in the hulk and warm it up to make it more fluid and easier to extract," he told Reuters.

"That could be done in about a month for the 13 external tanks on the ship. There are another 10 tanks inside, and those are a lot more difficult to reach," he said.

But if the ship slips deeper underwater, it would actually be better if the tanks ruptured open and the fuel floated up to the surface, he said.

"There would be panic for a couple of weeks of course but a 'black sea' of fuel would make it visible and easier to recover. The very worst scenario is having oil slowly leaking out."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/20/uk-italy-ship-environment-idUSLNE80J02Y20120120

"The company is not only going to refund everybody but they will offer a 30 per cent discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9030212/Costa-Concordia-insulting-cruise-offer-to-survivors.html



"Costa Crociere today denied that it offered discounts on other cruises to Costa Concordia survivors, according to an e- mailed statement. The Genoa-based company offered passengers assistance to return home and plans to refund all expenses, including the cruise fare, it said. "

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/italy-urged-to-curb-cruise-ship-routes-after-accident.html

"The key to the night’s tragic events lies in the actions of the captain, now under house arrest facing charges of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.

At around 9.05pm he was seen leaving the Concordia Club on Deck 11, in the company of Domnica Cemortan, an off-duty Moldovan member of the crew, and another officer.

A witness said the party had drunk at least a decanter of red wine, raising questions over Capt Schettino’s insistence that he drank no alcohol that night.

Prosecutors have established that the captain was at the controls of the Concordia 37 minutes later, when he steered the huge cruise ship onto rocks off the island of Giglio as he was allegedly trying to perform an "inchino" – or sail-past salute – for a former Costa Cruises captain and for the ship’s chief steward, Antonello Tievoli.

This risky manoeuvre appears to have been established practice for some Costa captains.

Also on the bridge was Miss Cemortan, who investigators now want to interview to shed light on what happened.

By 9.45pm the ship was listing by seven degrees and some passengers, beginning to realise that something was badly wrong, made phone calls to relatives, leading to the coastguard in Livorno being notified that the cruise liner was in trouble.

Mr Schettino only called his employers at 10.05pm – 23 minutes after the collision – reporting a problem with the ship. However when the Livorno harbour master’s office radioed a minute later the ship said it had suffered a “blackout”.

Twenty minutes later Livorno radioed again and Capt Schettino, 52, admitted water was entering the hull – but said there was no emergency. By 10.30pm the ship was listing by 20 degrees and he finally issued a May Day signal, waiting a further 20 minutes – at 10.58 – before ordering the ship to be abandoned.

Capt Schettino should then have waited for the ship’s passengers to be evacuated before leaving himself. However, witnesses saw him wrapped in a blanket getting on a lifeboat just over an hour after ordering the evacuation.

The captain told magistrates that when he did get onto a lifeboat it was only because he had “tripped” and fallen into the rescue craft while trying to help with the evacuation.

At 1.46am he picked up another call from the port authorities and was for a second time angrily ordered to return to his ship by Gregorio De Falco, the Livorno harbour master. However he was later spotted by a police patrol boat heading towards land in a life boat.

At 5am Capt Schettino called his 80-year-old mother Rosa, telling her: “Mamma, there’s been a tragedy. But don’t worry, I tried to save the passengers. I won’t be able to phone you for a while. Just stay calm,”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9029866/Costa-Concordia-the-inside-story-of-the-night-of-Friday-January-13.html

"Dr Cinquini insisted that the ship’s officers did their best amid the chaos and fear, even though video footage which emerged on Friday suggested the crew had told passengers to go back to their cabins as late as 10.25pm – more than 40 minutes after the collision.

The abandon ship alarm was only given at 10.58pm.

He reserved judgment on Capt Francesco Schettini, who is under house arrest and is expected to be charged with abandoning ship, causing a shipwreck and multiple counts of manslaughter.

He said: “I’d only known Capt Schettino for a little while. I know he’s a good sailor but the sea doesn’t forgive the arrogance of man.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9029644/Costa-Concordia-ships-doctor-describes-chaotic-scenes-as-liner-keeled-over.html

"It looks like the only one responsible is the captain. That's what everyone on the outside (thinks)," Mayor Paolo Trapani said. "But in this village, people know he cannot be responsible for everything. It's not like journalists want to portray it."

Prosecutors have accused the captain of piloting the ship too fast to allow him to react to dangers, causing the shipwreck, according to legal papers.

Judge Valeria Montesarchio's initial ruling found Schettino changed the ship's course, steering too close to shore and causing the ship to hit a rock.

Earlier this week, Costa Cruises chairman Pier Luigi Foschi placed the blame for the wreck squarely on the captain, saying it was his choice to deviate from frequently traveled routes."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/21/world/europe/italy-cruise-main/