Italy cruise disaster: I tripped and fell into lifeboat says captain of disaster ship
THE captain of the Costa Concordia told investigators he “fell into a lifeboat” and couldn’t get out after the doomed liner capsized.
Francesco Schettino, 52, made the astonishing claim during a three-hour grilling by an examining magistrate.
Passengers claim Schettino fled the ship covered in a blanket early in the evacuation.
Schettino, who denies it, told magistrate Valeria Montesarchio he tripped over and plunged into the rescue craft. He said: “The passengers were rushing all over the decks trying to scramble into the lifeboats.
“I didn’t even have a lifejacket because I had given it to a passenger – I was trying to get them into the boats in an orderly fashion. Suddenly the boat listed. I tripped and ended up in one of the lifeboats. That’s why I was in there.
Suddenly the boat listed. I tripped and ended up in one of the lifeboats. That’s why I was in there.
“Once it was over the side, the boat wouldn’t lower down into the water because it was blocked by one underneath.” Schettino claims he had “saved thousands of lives” although he admitted he had made a mistake by changing course to salute an old friend and passing so close to the island of Giglio.
The ship smashed into rocks and capsized, leading to the deaths of at least 11 people. But Judge Montesarchio ruled in documents released yesterday that Schettino – under house arrest – abandoned the liner with 300 people on board,
She wrote that witnesses saw Schettino watching “the ship sink” from nearby rocks after getting out of a lifeboat that had been launched from the liner. Schettino is being investigated for manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck.