There are many stories floating around from various crew members and passengers, but one element is common in them all...complete and utter chaos.
I am sure by now that we are all pretty familiar with the story. The ship ran aground, the captain and the crew passed it off as a mere electrical problem that was "under control", the crew instructed passengers to return to their cabins, then the evacuation sirens went off, and chaos ensued.
Apparently, by the time the crew began instructing people to get into life boats, the ship had already started to shift to its side...which made deploying the life boats into the water difficult and dangerous. One interview that I saw with an American couple described the journey from the life boats into the water as the most terrifying part in the whole scenario. They explained the difficulty of getting into the boat, the life boat crashing into the side of the cruise ship, and the danger of the life boat actually dumping them into the ocean because of the angle of the cruise ship.
Of course in the midst of all this, the question is bound to come up...where was the Captain in all of this?
Good question.
Well, at one point we know where he was not....and that was not on the Concordia.
Although reports indicate that most people had been safely gotten off of the ship, there were still some on board. The Italian Coast Guard released it's conversation with the Captain, as he sat safely in one of the life boats. The coast guard demanded that he go back aboard...the Captain hemmed and hawed and generally made excuses as to why he could not go back aboard the ship. He basically admitted to abandoning it, while there were still passengers aboard. The Guard continued to demand that he go back aboard the ship to help coordinate the evacuation of those remaining. He never did.
There were many questions that the Guard had for the Captain, such as how he came to be on a life boat and not on the ship...his answer? He tripped and fell and landed in a life boat.
I'm not making this up...this is what the man actually said.
It also came out today, from one of the ship's cooks, that after the ship hit the reef, he ordered dinner for himself and a lady that was with him.
Once again, I'm not making this up.
In addition to this ridiculousness, we find that this man more than likely caused the wreck because he had deviated from the course that was charted for him, was navigating the boat by sight, and was also going too fast to be able to guide the ship away from the reef to prevent it from hitting it.
This man is an idiot and a coward.
I think it's pretty common knowledge that the Captain should be the last person off of the ship. That if the ship goes down and there are still people aboard, then the Captain goes down with it.
This Schettino character's actions are unthinkable.
Anyone else see Titanic?
This current disaster is eerily reminescent of the disaster of the Titanic which sank exactly 100 years ago this year. While most of the passengers and crew managed to escape the Concordia, the fact remains that there are people who didn't. Today, divers recovered another body, bringing the count up to 12. There are still about 11 people missing. Although the number is small in comparison to the number who perished aboard the Titanic in 1912, a life is a life and the wrecking of the Costa Concordia is still a terrible disaster. A disaster that could have and should have been avoided. It is also a disaster that was magnified by the Captain's hiding of the seriousness of the problem and his failure to act in a timely manner.
I'm appalled. Completely and totally appalled. And needless to say, I will not be going on a cruise any time soon.
Below are a few news links about the story, including a translation of the conversation that Schettino had with the Coast Guard from the life boat.
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