Costa Concordia disaster

[Schuy1]

Costa Concordia disaster: Crew urged 'return to cabins'

A video has emerged showing the crew of the Costa Concordia reassuring passengers nothing was wrong, after the cruise ship had begun taking in water.

In the amateur footage, a crew member says "everything is under control" and a generator problem will be fixed. She asks passengers to go to their cabins.

The vessel ran aground off Italy's coast with some 4,200 people on board and capsized. At least 11 people died.

It is thought the delay in deciding to abandon the ship may have cost lives.

Earlier on Thursday, Italian media broadcast what they say was the first phone conversation between port officials and crew of the Costa Concordia - about 30 minutes after the ship hit rocks.

In the exchange, a crew member is heard saying it is experiencing only a blackout.

Twenty-one people are still missing, and hopes to find any of them alive are fading fast.

Continue reading the main story
List of dead and missing

Confirmed dead: Sandor Feher, Hungary, crew; French nationals Pierre Gregoire, Jeanne Gannard, Jean-Pierre Micheaud, Francis Servil, passengers; Italian Giovanni Masia, passenger; Spaniard Guillermo Gual, passenger; Peruvian Thomas Alberto Costilla Mendoza, crew.
Missing: 21 people plus three unidentified bodies. Nationalities as follows: 12 Germans, six Italians (including one crew member), two French, two Americans, one Peruvian (crew), one Indian (crew)
Official missing list
Relatives seek the missing
'Seated and tranquil'
The latest amateur footage was posted online by Italy's Rainews24 on Thursday.

In it, a female crew member is heard telling passengers: "We kindly ask you to return to your cabins, or go for a walk in the hall, if you like."

She says that she is relaying a message from the commander.

"We'll resolve the electrical problem that we have with the generator. Everything will be fine. If you want to stand here, it's fine.

"But I'm kindly asking you to go back to your rooms, where you'll be seated and tranquil. Everything is under control."

In the audio tape aired earlier on Thursday, a port authority officer is heard asking the crewman about the situation on board, after passengers had reported a huge jolt and been told to put on life vests.

But an unidentified voice from the Costa Concordia replies: "We had a blackout and we are checking the conditions on board."

"Do you need help or are you staying in the Giglio area for now?" the port official asks.

"Confirmed. We remain here in the area to check the blackout," the crew member replies, without making any reference to a crash.

The BBC's Alan Johnston on Giglio says the impression left by the recording is that the crewman failed to give a full account of the gravity of the situation.

Woman sought
The ship's captain, Francisco Schettino, is under house arrest on suspicion of multiple manslaughter.


Moldovan passenger Domnica Cemortan: 'Passengers were like a herd of lost sheep'
The owners say he was sailing too close to Giglio on an unauthorised course.

Prosecutors have also accused him of fleeing the ship before evacuation was complete. He denies the accusations.

However Italian media have said Capt Schettino did admit to making a navigational error.

He told investigators he had "ordered the turn too late" as the luxury ship sailed close to an island, according to a leaked interrogation transcript.

He also reportedly said the crew had decided to sail close to the island to salute a former colleague.

The company that owns the ship, Costa Cruises, has suspended Capt Schettino and withdrawn an offer to pay his legal costs, according to reports.

Italian media have also shown pictures of a Moldovan woman who says she was on the bridge after the ship ran aground. The woman defended Capt Schettino's actions, in an interview with Moldovan TV.

The reports say investigators are trying to speak to her.

Rescue workers are continuing their search of submerged parts on the ship, after the coastguard said the wreck had stabilised.

Salvage operators are standing by to start pumping fuel from the ship's tanks to avoid a potential environmental disaster.

BBC © 2012 - 20 January 2012 Last updated at 02:12 GMT

- a very sad state of affairs - and very preventable (being caused by human error)

[Rus-Evo]

Total human error right? Or should the word error be replaced with the word "recklessness".

[Rus-Evo]

Coast Guard to Captain: GET BACK ON YOUR SHIP!!

[RaySinKa]

Coast Guard to Captain: GET BACK ON YOUR SHIP!!

Selling well in Italy;


T-shirts with the phrase in Italian 'Vada a Bordo, Cazzo' (Get on board, damn it) were being snapped up for £12 after an enterprising online clothing store advertised them on the web.

Ray

[Schumacat]

The Captain says he was supervising the rescue when he tripped an fell into a rescue boat. It must be an extreme coincidence that his 2nd in command and 3rd in command happened to trip and fall into the same rescue boat .

[f1-cobra]

[Mach]

Just sit right back
And you'll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
The Skipper brave and sure,
Five passengers set sail that day,
For a three hour tour,
A three hour tour.

The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost.
The Minnow would be lost.

The ship set ground on the shore
Of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan,
The Skipper too.
The millionaire
And his wife,
The movie star
The professor
and Mary Ann
Here on Gilligan's Isle.

(Ending verse)

So this is the tale of our castaways,
They're here for a long long time.
They'll have to make the best of things,
It's an uphill climb.

The first mate and his Skipper too
Will do their very best,
To make the others comf'terble
In their tropic island nest.

No phone, no lights, no motor car,
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Crusoe
It's primitive as can be.

So join us here each week my friends,
You're sure to get a smile,
From seven stranded castaways
Here on Gilligan's Isle!!