Report: Captain claims he "tripped" into lifeboat

[itsrobert]

(CBS/AP)
The cruise ship captain under fire for abandoning his vessel while thousands of passengers scrambled for rescue has reportedly come up with an explanation for his flight - he accidentally tripped and fell into a lifeboat.

Jailed since the accident, Capt. Francesco Schettino appeared Tuesday before a judge in Grosseto, where he was questioned for three hours.

Several English-language newspapers have reported that, according to La Repubblica, Schettino testified that "the passengers were pouring on to the decks, taking the lifeboats by assault."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57361085/report-captain-claims-he-tripped-into-lifeboat/

[obamanut2012]

1. I read about this earlier today

He really needs to shut up if he doesn't want to spend about 70 years in prison. I can't believe his attorney is allowing him to give interview.

I talked to a ship's captain relative today, and she said this guy is a disgrace to the sea. I agree.

[littlewolf]

2. right ... tripped into the life boat and sailed away ...

Yeah ... it is soooo easy to trip into a life boat and leave unawares ... good grief ... if it wasn't so sad it would be funny ....

[dmr]

14. He sounds a lot like Newt -

who was so busy working hard & being a faithful public servant that he cheated on his wife.

It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

[htuttle]

3. Wow. THAT's what he's going with?

[harun]

5. He say's the boat listed and him and all the officers were catapulted in to the lifeboats.

I am sure that will go over well with the jury.

[SpoonFed]

17. Uh huh.

all the officers. Uh huh. Why can't Darwin get a helpful ship list in the right direction from time to time?

[NinetySix]

4. Captain Trips....

[Dead_Parrot]

22. ...

[Wait Wut]

6. This was an unnecessary and tragic event.

But, that made me laugh. He should be a GOP candidate.

[cstanleytech]

7. No not really, he only crashed a ship.............Bush and the republicans crashed an entire nation.

[JBoy]

8. I wasn't having sex with that woman,

I tripped and my penis fell into her.

[Wistful Vista]

12. The Eric Cartman defense...

[a la izquierda]

32. That's how my friend said she got pregnant this morning.

And I spewed coffee all over the floor.

[bigwillq]

9. What a lame excuse for a human being.

[BadtotheboneBob]

10. As we use to say in the Coast Guard (I was a coxswain for 10 years)

Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!

[Wistful Vista]

11. Trippin' the flight fantastic?

[Scairp]

13. How lucky for him!

Last edited Thu Jan 19, 2012, 04:55 AM - Edit history (1)

I'm so glad to hear that when the poor captain tripped he landed in a lifeboat (way to stick that landing! A 10!), and that he's not one of the dead bodies trapped in the hull of his ship. Prick. I hope they put him under the prison.

[valerief]

15. Why in god's name do cruise ships have to be that massive?

I know the size didn't cause the accident, but good lord!

[truthisfreedom]

16. One word. Profit.

It's a mighty incentive.

[Frank Cannon]

26. I was gobsmacked when I heard how many people were on that boat.

That's four times the amount of people that are supposedly on the supermassive Enterprise D from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

[provis99]

18. so he's a coward AND a liar.

apparently a dumbass, too, for thinking people would believe him.

[dballance]

19. That is the most absurd thing I've heard lately

And I've been watching the GOP debates so it takes quite a lot to top the incredulity. He should be pulled up to the nearest yardarm. Tripped into a lifeboat? Who could believe such BS. Just say you were trying to save your ass. There is actually nothing wrong with not wanting to die. Of course you have a responsibility to your passengers first.

[NBachers]

20. Da money fell outta da teller's drawer an' into dis here bag!

[Rhiannon12866]

23. ...

[Ecumenist]

24. LOL!! Hilarious...When I heard this statement, I was driving back to my hime

and without thinking, I said, "WAIT, WHAT DID HE SAY? LOL!! DA FUCK??!!! He "tripped and fell into the boat and I guess he accidently rowed away with a lifeboat full of all of the officers of the boat? All of them tripped and fell into the boat? REALLY?? lol!!

[SeattleVet]

21. Captain Courageous obviously attended the "George Costanza School...

of Emergency Management"

Everyone else is to blame; everything he did is justifiable in some warped manner.

[SemperEadem]

25. yeah, you tripped, alright

still no excuse for abandoning your ship as it's going down before your passengers and crew were taken care of.

[Frank Cannon]

27. I'm going to take a wild guess that alcohol played a factor in this incident.

Only a wild drunk would think that anyone would believe a story like that.

[trof]

28. And his dog ate the ship's log.

Rught.

[ehrnst]

29. Captain Stuebing would have stayed right there on the Lido deck. (nt)

[Big Orange Jeff]

30. In unrelated news...

...others are using the foolproof "I tripped" excuse:

- Mitt Romney is using it to explain how all that money wound up in a Cayman Islands bank,
- It's Newt Gingrich's explanation for how his penis wound up in other women,
- Ron Paul says that, while trying to regain his balance, a leaky pen fell out of his pocket and onto several sheets of paper and the resulting inkblots just happen to produce all of those newsletters in the nineties, and
- Rick Santorum says that he hurt himself when tripped and, instead of swearing, shouted out a string of gibberish that sounded as if he were warning John Ensign that a story was going to break about his extramarital affair with the wife of one of his top aides.

[A Simple Game]

31. Tripped? Sure, totally believable.

And if it wasn't for all of the women and children that he fell on, he would have the bruises to prove it.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

33. The steering linkage failed on my car today

and the car made a right turn into the parking lot of a donut shop. THIS WAS NOT MY FAULT!



The darned shopkeepers forced me to buy a cheese danish. I AM A VICTIM HERE!

[Scuba]

34. Wouldn't "I panicked and am ashamed of my actions" be more sympathetic?

[Evasporque]

35. ....and the Vicar "fell" on the potato.....nt

[yellowcanine]

36. A variation on the old, "he tripped and fell on the knife I was holding, Officer."

[Moondog]

37. * snicker *

[Sanity Claws]

38. He must have same PR person as Santorum

This excuse is on par with Santorum claiming he said bleah people, not black people.

[sarcasmo]

39. I see a SNL skit coming out of this statement.

[jakeXT]

40. Did he get his dinner ?

Cruise ship's cook says captain ordered dinner after crash

(CNN) -- The captain of the Costa Concordia ordered dinner for himself and a woman after the ship struck rocks off Italy's coast, a cook from the ship told a Filipino television station.

In an interview with GMA Network, cook Rogelio Barista said Capt. Francesco Schettino ordered dinner less than an hour after the accident.

"We wondered what was going on. ... At that time, we really felt something was wrong. ... The stuff in the kitchen was falling off shelves and we realized how grave the situation was," Barista told GMA.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/19/world/europe/italy-cruise-cook/index.html