Coast Guard to Italian captain: Go back aboard!

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120118/D9SB12I80.html

By FRANCES D'EMILIO

ROME (AP) - "You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me?" the Coast Guard officer shouted as the captain of the grounded Costa Concordia sat safe in a life raft and frantic passengers struggled to escape after the ship rammed into a reef off the Tuscan coast.

"It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'Abandon ship.' Now I am in charge."

The dramatic recording made public Tuesday shows Capt. Francesco Schettino resisted orders to return to his ship to direct the evacuation, saying it was too dark and the ship was tipping perilously.

The exchange came to light as the death toll nearly doubled to 11 after divers pulled the bodies of four men and a woman, all wearing life vests, from the wreckage. Some two dozen people remain missing.


The cruise ship Costa Concordia leans on its side Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, after running aground on the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, on Friday evening. Italian naval divers on Tuesday exploded holes in the hull of a cruise ship that grounded near a Tuscan island to speed the search for 29 missing passengers and crew while the seas remain relatively calm. The search intensified as prosecutors prepared to question the captain, who is accused of causing the wreck that left at least six dead by making a maneuver that the Italian cruise operator said was "unapproved and unauthorized." (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)


FULL story at link.

[JohnnyRingo]

1. Italian captain to Coast Guard: "No".

I guess the jerk figures he's already fired and will never even swab the deck of a passenger carrying ship again. He'll have a hard time applying for parking valet with this blotch on his resume'. "Oops sorry, I tipped your Mercedes over".

He's going to do time for this.

[Renew Deal]

2. This is what the captain should have done

minus the music.

[bluestateguy]

3. Isn't the protocal that the captain should be the last man off the ship?

Make sure everyone is off safely before jumping ship. If not, the captain goes down with the ship.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. Harry Smith was on Hardball earlier and called him the anti-Sully...

[alp227]

6. how the hell did the captain get on shore so quickly?

that's the missing detail i'm really curious about. And his last name deserves a respelling: drop the C and replace the E with an I.