Concordia News: Please Post Here

[MDSue]

I would not want to be his lawyer. First he tripped, then he fell, and now he jumped. :rolleyes:

However he left the ship isn't as important as what happened to start this chain of events. I believe he'll be convicted more on the basis of negligence to duty than abandoning the ship.

 

His explanation of how he ended up in a lifeboat actually make sense to me. If the ship was rolling over on them like he said, he really had no choice but to get on a lifeboat. Once he was off the ship, I doubt he could reasonably get back on.

I think the real issues are the causes of the crash and his denial of the severity afterwards.

[ktbelle09]

Has anyone been able to find this new "60 page dossier" that has been released? I would be interested in reading ALL 60 pages, rather than just what the news summarizes and thinks is important. I have been unsuccessful at finding a copy of the actual document anywhere online. Thank you!

[ktbelle09]

Disregard, found it! Thank you! :)

 

Here is the full official 60 page report from the court of Grosetto outlining charges against Schettino et al and describing how the 32 passengers died. It is in Italian -- not sure when the English version will come out.

 

http://corrierefiorentino.corriere.it/media/pdf/concordia/concordia.pdf

 

From an article in Corriere De La Sera:

 

http://corrierefiorentino.corriere.it/firenze/notizie/cronaca/2013/4-marzo-2013/gli-ultimi-attimi-vita-vittime-naufragio-21225051802.shtml

[watertheodds]

Disregard, found it! Thank you! :)

 

 

If you will go back to page 158 of this thread I translated it all yesterday.

[cruiserfanfromct]

His explanation of how he ended up in a lifeboat actually make sense to me. If the ship was rolling over on them like he said, he really had no choice but to get on a lifeboat. Once he was off the ship, I doubt he could reasonably get back on.

I think the real issues are the causes of the crash and his denial of the severity afterwards.

 

What is egregiously criminal is after having caused the accident in the first place, the captain got on a lifeboat on the same side of the ship where many people were waiting to get on -- i.e. the 5 year old girl and her father and the elderly American couple who later died, to name a few. Schettino and his cronies managed to find an available lifeboat and navigated safety to the rocks where they watched the drama unfold well BEFORE the ship did its final list. If the Coast Guard and the Vice Mayor of Giglio could get on the ship using the ladder on the other side to help passengers, Schettino could have done so as well. We do know that in the middle of the crisis he manged to plan his get away and changed from his captain uniform into civilian clothes presumably so he would not be spotted by the other passengers leaving before they did -- why else would he bother to change clothes when the ship was sinking?

 

I agree that the real issue is that he caused the crash, but abandoning ship and refusing to get back on while watching the rescue effort from a rock at a safe distance is why he has so many charges against him in addition to the actual crash in the indictment.

Edited March 6, 2013 by cruiserfanfromct

[sidari]

watertheodds ..... great job in getting a translation done, as always with the translation into Italian a lot of stuff is not worded in the right way and makes some things not make sense. Hopefully when the English translation proper comes out it will make it all much more understandable.

 

Strange to note that not one passenger saw the boat that Schettino left by or those with him! which gives rise to the fact that everyone who could get off the Starboard side had already done so.

 

"His explanation of how he ended up in a lifeboat actually make sense to me. If the ship was rolling over on them like he said, he really had no choice but to get on a lifeboat"

 

MDSue .... A few of us made this point many months ago and if as "watertheodds" says in his post that they were actually in a Liferaft there would have been no way of getting that round to the Port side of the ship apart from being towed by a Lifeboat or Tender.

 

Has anyone seen or read anywhere how Schettino got from the Rock he says he sat on for at least an hour looking at the ship to the Harbour ?

[sidari]

Here is a link to the Deck plans for Concordia, note the confusing arrangement for getting out to the promenade deck "Belgio deck 3" only 4 sets of doors and the walkway arrangement inside the ship either side of the Lifeboats !"Grecia deck 4" Little wonder that people could not get onto the promenade deck.

 

http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/Main/decks.php?ship=Costa+Concordia

[cruiserfanfromct]

Strange to note that not one passenger saw the boat that Schettino left by or those with him! which gives rise to the fact that everyone who could get off the Starboard side had already done so.

As was mentioned previously the captain changed into civilian clothes -- would be hard for anyone in a state of panic to know it was him -- especially if they had never met him before!

 

"His explanation of how he ended up in a lifeboat actually make sense to me. If the ship was rolling over on them like he said, he really had no choice but to get on a lifeboat"

 

MDSue .... A few of us made this point many months ago and if as "watertheodds" says in his post that they were actually in a Liferaft there would have been no way of getting that round to the Port side of the ship apart from being towed by a Lifeboat or Tender.

Schettino stated in the 2nd part of the channel 7 interview (see video in previous post) that he tried to get a motor boat to go over to the other side but the sea was too rough. The vice mayor of Giglio and CG were able to get there using small boats and climbed up the ladder to help passengers while Schettino was sitting on the rocks coordinating zippo.

 

Has anyone seen or read anywhere how Schettino got from the Rock he says he sat on for at least an hour looking at the ship to the Harbour ?

Got from the rock to where? His hotel room? It was mentioned he took a cab.

 

He was arrested the next morning at the hotel. If the Italian authorities thought he acted properly he would have never been arrested. Now there is an indictment along with a serious host of charges and a possible trial.

[MDSue]

What is egregiously criminal is after having caused the accident in the first place, the captain got on a lifeboat on the same side of the ship where many people were waiting to get on -- i.e. the 5 year old girl and her father and the elderly American couple who later died, to name a few. Schettino and his cronies managed to find an available lifeboat and navigated safety to the rocks where they watched the drama unfold well BEFORE the ship did its final list. If the Coast Guard and the Vice Mayor of Giglio could get on the ship using the ladder on the other side to help passengers, Schettino could have done so as well. We do know that in the middle of the crisis he manged to plan his get away and changed from his captain uniform into civilian clothes presumably so he would not be spotted by the other passengers leaving before they did -- why else would he bother to change clothes when the ship was sinking?

I agree that the real issue is that he caused the crash, but abandoning ship and refusing to get back on while watching the rescue effort from a rock at a safe distance is why he has so many charges against him in addition to the actual crash in the indictment.

 

 

 

I definitely see your side of the issue. I am not defending his actions (by any means) and am eager to hear all the facts from a variety of reliable sources. It was heartbreaking to read the manner and cause of deaths of many of the victims who were clearly trying to get from the sinking side to the other side. You make a great point about how he managed to get on a lifeboat when others could not. I truly would love to hear from anyone who shared the lifeboat with the captain and the crew. I find it hard to believe that it broke down by the rocks. I also don't believe that he made any efforts to get back on the ship (Where are the witnesses to this?). My guess was that he thought it was going to sink completely and he was not going anywhere near it once he was off.

 

I think what is very clear from everything we've read so far, is that the captain and the bridge crew played absolutely no role in helping to save the passengers.

 

The charging documents filled in a lot of blanks, but I know we are all eager to hear the whole story.

 

I do believe he needs his day in court and a fair trial. However, I also believe his credibility is almost non-existent due to the ever-changing accounts we have heard so far (He lost that from the very beginning when he said the ship only had a blackout problem).

Edited March 7, 2013 by MDSue

[MDSue]

MDSue .... A few of us made this point many months ago and if as "watertheodds" says in his post that they were actually in a Liferaft there would have been no way of getting that round to the Port side of the ship apart from being towed by a Lifeboat or Tender.

 

?

 

Didn't Schettino say in his interview that he "drove or steered" the lifeboat away from the ship as it was falling "on top of them". If so, it couldn't have been a liferaft.

 

Then he said it broke down (I'm assuming near the rocks). If this part is true, does it mean that the lifeboat broke down and he and the crew climbed onto the rocks and just left the people he just saved to drift aimlessly in the water, or did those passengers get off on the rocks, too? How did they manage to get to shore?

 

Like I said, I would love to hear from the 12 people he says he saved. Somehow, I'm guessing they may never materialize. I think he would be better off legally if he quit giving conflicting stories of what reallly happened.

Edited March 7, 2013 by MDSue

[SomeBeach]

What we need is the time frame of when the Captain left and when the ship actually did the final tip.

Does anyone else find it interesting that none of the other Bridge Officers are talking? We aren't even hearing from the "other woman" now either.

[watertheodds]

I am not saying that the Captain left the ship in a life raft- It just makes sense to me that the captain and top officers would have a designated means of escape in the event they do remain with the ship until all passengers and crew are evacuated. I also noticed on my HAL cruise last December that during the full, drop em' in the water lifeboat drill there was a smaller speedboat style watercraft with an officer directing the lifeboats in the water. Just for fun I just googled the question as to whether ship captains and officers had their own craft and a site came up called Ask a Cruise Ship Officer. This is the question and answer I found interesting:

 

 

Do the crew have their own emergency lifeboats or do you use the same ones as the passengers?

Asked by YMCA on 02/13/2012

 

 

Answer

 

It depends on your rank. A few deck officers will be in charge of some of the regular lifeboats with passengers. But on a ship with, say, 20 lifeboats, there aren't 20 deck officers to be in charge of each lifeboat. (In this case, other trained (and certified) people- Quartermasters, engineering officers, etc- will be in charge of the boat, along with several other crew members that will also help man the boat.) In addition, when you give the order to abandon ship, losing all of your officers to go man the lifeboats means you have less people onboard to ensure critical elements of the ship and evacuation are going as they should-- so a core team might remain behind until all the boats and rafts are away, and then that core team will go in the last liferaft(s). But each company has a different policy- and a different emergency response structure- and so do it a different way. But the general answer is some officers will go in lifeboats with passengers, and others may wait until the end and go in the last liferafts after the rest of the evacuation is complete. It depends on your rank. A few deck officers will be in charge of some of the regular lifeboats with passengers. But on a ship with, say, 20 lifeboats, there aren't 20 deck officers to be in charge of each lifeboat. (In this case, other trained (and certified) people- Quartermasters, engineering officers, etc- will be in charge of the boat, along with several other crew members that will also help man the boat.) In addition, when you give the order to abandon ship, losing all of your officers to go man the lifeboats means you have less people onboard to ensure critical elements of the ship and evacuation are going as they should-- so a core team might remain behind until all the boats and rafts are away, and then that core team will go in the last liferaft(s). But each company has a different policy- and a different emergency response structure- and so do it a different way. But the general answer is some officers will go in lifeboats with passengers, and others may wait until the end and go in the last liferafts after the rest of the evacuation is complete.

 

My theory (and mind you, it's only a theory) is that the Captain and his "core group" bugged out as soon as no one was looking and went to one of the minor life raft style crafts and manuvered to the rocks and that is how he ended up there instead of the docks with everyone else. It also might explain why he had wet socks...lol

[watertheodds]

Sorry - some of it was double printed - but you get the idea.......

[cruiserfanfromct]

What we need is the time frame of when the Captain left and when the ship actually did the final tip.

Does anyone else find it interesting that none of the other Bridge Officers are talking? We aren't even hearing from the "other woman" now either.

From my reading of the Italian newspapers, I believe the final tip happened at around 12:34am. Not sure when Schettino hightailed it out of there but it was probably right after he gave the abandon ship order, add a few more minutes for the time it took for him to change into civilian clothes. He was spotted ashore wrapped in a blanket at around 11:40pm so that would be a good 45 minutes before the final tip.

[cruiserfanfromct]

Didn't Schettino say in his interview that he "drove or steered" the lifeboat away from the ship as it was falling "on top of them". If so, it couldn't have been a liferaft.

 

Then he said it broke down (I'm assuming near the rocks). If this part is true, does it mean that the lifeboat broke down and he and the crew climbed onto the rocks and just left the people he just saved to drift aimlessly in the water, or did those passengers get off on the rocks, too? How did they manage to get to shore?

 

Like I said, I would love to hear from the 12 people he says he saved. Somehow, I'm guessing they may never materialize. I think he would be better off legally if he quit giving conflicting stories of what reallly happened.

My thoughts exactly!

[SomeBeach]

From my reading of the Italian newspapers, I believe the final tip happened at around 12:34am. Not sure when Schettino hightailed it out of there but it was probably right after he gave the abandon ship order, add a few more minutes for the time it took for him to change into civilian clothes. He was spotted ashore wrapped in a blanket at around 11:40pm so that would be a good 45 minutes before the final tip.

 

And we know from video there was still a lot of people on that side. Yet he did nothing to run down the length of that ship and try to help them. There were still boats coming back along side then too.

The more he talks, the angrier I get.

[sidari]

The more he talks, the angrier I get. ... Don`t listen then! would not want you keeling over (no pun intended) thinking about it .... :eek:

 

So dependant upon which Schettino you believe or not as the case may be no one can point out how he got from the rock to the harbour on Giglio though he had wet socks? no one saw him there on the rock passenger wise, no one saw him and the anonymous 12 get into the liefboat and no one saw any of them leave.

 

If the lifeboat engine failed who towed the drifting empty lifeboat back to the harbour ?

 

Those named in the court documents will have been told by their council not to speak about what happened nor to speak to the others involved i would imagine.

 

Somone mentioned a few posts back about a conspiracy between those onboard, so the possibility exists that those who will face the court could have been the people in the mystery lifeboat, after all why was the hotel Manager going down to the Engine room to see what had happened as he has claimed on TV programmes? surely one of the deck officers would be responsible for that.

 

One of the phone calls from the Coastguard to Schettino was logged sometime after midnight around 12-30am which is when Schettino told them he was in a lifeboat assesing how to continue rescues! if that was in fact the case he could not have been seen on land at 11-40pm.

 

Watertheodds ..... Interesting reply you got there re the lifeboats, so taking what was said in the reply the chances are that maybe only 6 people would have been left officer wise normally to see everyone was off a ship most of the others being in charge of lifeboats.

 

Excluding the guy on land how many are facing charges ?

[Uniall]

There is only ONE Schittinio................

 

If his lips are moving, he's lying

If he smiles, he's lying.

If he's standing mute in front of you, he's lying.

If he's in the room, he's lying.

If he's thinking, he's lying.

 

It's what I've suggested since day one: Captain Coward is a self absorbed, egomanical sociopath. He truly believes the world revolves around him and only he matters. He lacks the ability to feel compassion or empathy for others, since their purpose is only to please and gratify him.

[cruiserfanfromct]

After viewing all of Schettino's interviews since the shipwreck, it appears that aside from having no conscience or moral compass, Schettino's mind is incapable of distinguishing a believable lie from one that is so preposterous only a psychopath could conger up.

 

At this point, after the experts have analyzed all the evidence, there is absolutely nothing this man could ever say that would exonerate him from the negligence of causing a shipwreck, deserting his ship and more damning in my view, his subsequent dereliction of duty. The evidence was caught on the black box tape, camera, photo, audio recordings, amateur videos, eyewitnesses etc., etc. There is no escaping the truth. The prosecution feels confident they can convict this man on what they have.

 

We are all human and anyone can fail in a moment of horrible terror such as the Concordia accident. The horror of something like a ship capsizing, the panic of the passengers, all could account for Schettino deserting the ship early, refusing to do his duty and letting go of his responsibility. But the overwhelming, unbelievable lies together with his arrogance and lack of empathy are the things that make this captain a true socially adept psychopath, IMHO.

Edited March 7, 2013 by cruiserfanfromct

[SomeBeach]

Sid, I will not keel over. My blood pressure is low enough that anger does not raise it up to dangerous levels.

[paulrobs]

Thank you for the translation.

All of the charges are what I hoped he and others would face. I stand by my earlier comments that if he and Costa and other senior crew members get away with this one I will never ever cruise again.

I'm from the UK and I hate that sonofabitch for causing an avoidable accident that killed many people and injured so many others. I don't side with anyone on here who is trying to justify the actions of Captain Coward. In fact, I find it morally indefensible for people to support someone who is so obviously responsible for this disaster.

I look forward to the trial and hope that decency, common sense and jutice prevails and the responsible people are convicted and appropriately sentenced. Most of all I hope that CC gets to spend a lot of time in jail looking back on his life and finds it within himself to accept that steaming in to shallow waters at night at 16 knots on an unplanned route in a ferkin' big ship was insane and that it DIRECTLY caused the ensuing disaster. Mitigating circumstances may well increase or decrease the severity of the disaster and the after effects but they didn't cause the disaster. No way.

Hell, I may even visit him in jail to tell him how bad I feel about what he did that night. Edited March 7, 2013 by paulrobs

[Uniall]

[quote name='paulrobs']Thank you for the translation.

All of the charges are what I hoped he and others would face. I stand by my earlier comments that if he and Costa and other senior crew members get away with this one I will never ever cruise again.

I'm from the UK and I hate that sonofabitch for causing an avoidable accident that killed many people and injured so many others. I don't side with anyone on here who is trying to justify the actions of Captain Coward. In fact, I find it morally indefensible for people to support someone who is so obviously responsible for this disaster.

I look forward to the trial and hope that decency, common sense and jutice prevails and the responsible people are convicted and appropriately sentenced. Most of all I hope that CC gets to spend a lot of time in jail looking back on his life and finds it within himself to accept that steaming in to shallow waters at night at 16 knots on an unplanned route in a ferkin' big ship was insane and that it DIRECTLY caused the ensuing disaster. Mitigating circumstances may well increase or decrease the severity of the disaster and the after effects but they didn't cause the disaster. No way.

Hell, I may even visit him in jail to tell him how bad I feel about what he did that night.[/quote]

You have renewed my faith in English Common Law and British Common Sense. :)

With all of your fellow Brits who have played the apologists for Captain Coward, I was fearfull that the Mad Cow Desease scare of a decade ago had a dramatic affect on the national psyche in the UK.:eek:

I notice you're from Worcestershire. Perhaps your use of your world famous and scrumptious sauce (which I use to finish a great steak and make the perfect Bloody Mary) has warded off the affects of the the MCD. :D

Thanks for your post. Next time I'm in the UK, looking to play the role of "beefeater", I'll steer clear of Lancashire and head to Worcesershire. ;)

John

PS
After the clank clank of the cell door shuts on Captain Coward, I wonder if he might receive a proposal of a jail house marriage from one of your countywoman ? :rolleyes: Edited March 7, 2013 by Uniall

[Cruising Ken]

The site today looks clearer than it's been for months:confused:

[paulrobs]

Hi John

Yes, the sauce is good!

I'm sure there are more like me over here, they just aren't posting or aware of this thread. I know of no-one within my family or group of friends and colleagues who thinks he isn't guilty.

So. don't get too hung up by those on here who defend him. They are a tiny minority. And keep up the legal opinion, I find it interesting to read your reasoned argument.

Paul

[sidari]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3][COLOR=blue]Sid, I will not keel over. My blood pressure is low enough that anger does not raise it up to dangerous levels.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

SB .... Good to hear it .... :)

Yawn ... Boredom setting in again with the same old record going round and round and round and round .. Edited March 7, 2013 by sidari