Only ‘ a blackout’, officer tells coast guard

As frantic passengers call emergency services, a crew member dismisses query about doomed ship

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy — Divers combed the wreck of an Italian liner for a sixth day on Thursday, as leaked phone transcripts showed a ship’s officer misleading coast guards about the scale of the disaster.

The unidentified officer insisted that there had only been “a blackout” on board, some 40 minutes after the giant Costa Concordia crashed into rocks off the picturesque Tuscan island of Giglio on Friday and lurched on to its side.

Eleven bodies have so far been recovered, with officials saying two of the dead had been identified on Thursday as French nationals, while relatives of three of the 21 people still missing visited the scene of the tragedy.

Local authorities issued a weather alert warning that the sea would become “very agitated” later Thursday, raising fears that efforts to search the wreck and an operation to pump out its fuel tanks could be hampered.

“When the waves are high, it’s difficult to approach the ship with a dinghy, so helicopters are now installing ladders that will link the ship to the coastline,” fire brigade spokesman Luca Cari said at the scene.

The owner of the 17- deck vessel, Genoa- based Costa Crociere, sought to distance itself further from the ship’s arrested captain Francesco Schettino, announcing that it would be a plaintiff in the case against him.

In the first call made by the coast guard to the doomed Costa Concordia, an officer on the ship is heard denying there was a major crisis even 40 minutes after impact.

“Excuse me, do you have a problem on board?” the coast guard says.

The officer, identified only as a commanding officer, responds: “We had a blackout and we are checking the conditions on board.”

The coast guard insists: “What kind of problem are you having? Is it just the generator? Because the Carabinieri [ police] of Prato [ in Tuscany] got a call from a relative of a crew member who said that during dinner everything fell on his head.”

The officer replied: “No, negative, we have a blackout and we are verifying the conditions on board.”

At the time, coast guards where getting a flood of calls from police, as panicked passengers and crew began calling emergency numbers to say the 114,500 tonne ship had suffered a massive impact.

Coast guard: “The passengers said that you have ordered to put on life jackets. Is that correct?”

Officer: “We are verifying the conditions.”

A few minutes later an evacuation from the listing liner began, with survivors reporting scenes of chaos, confusion and panic.

A Paraguayan musician who was performing on the ship, said passengers and crew members were scurrying about with no direction.

“There was no hierarchy or privilege,” Jose Roberto Gomez said. “We all looked at each other and all we were trying to do was save ourselves.”

In transcripts of his interrogation by prosecutors that were leaked to Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Schettino defended his actions but admitted he had made “a mistake” in sailing so close to the shore.

Schettino, 52, is under house arrest at his home near Naples. He has been accused of multiple manslaughter and of abandoning ship, but has not yet been formally charged — a process that could take months.

I was sailing on sight [ and not using the ship’s instruments] because I know the area well and I’ve done the same manoeuvre three or four times. But this time I turned too late.

FRANCESCO SCHETTINO

CAPTAIN OF THE COSTA CONCORDIA

“I was sailing on sight [ and not using the ship’s instruments] because I know the area well and I’ve done the same manoeuvre three or four times. But this time I turned too late,” he was quoted as saying.

Schettino added, however, that after the impact he performed a complex manoeuvre that saved lives by steering the ship towards the island’s port.