Still a glimmer of hope for survivors inside luxury ship
Captain ‘ cried like a baby’ once on shore, according to ship’s chaplain, as search focuses on third deck of giant half- submerged cruise liner
GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy — Rescue workers searching the wreck of a luxury ship clutched onto glimmers of hope Friday that they may still find survivors a week after the tragedy that left 32 people feared dead.
Relatives of those still missing from a stricken Italian cruise ship laid flowers on the sea at the scene as coast guard officials said there was still a slim possibility of finding trapped passengers in some parts of the ship.
And as more stories of bravery emerged from the disaster, the ship’s chaplain said captain Francesco Schettino — since reviled as an incompetent coward — had “cried like a baby” in his arms once on shore.
Schettino is under house arrest at his home on the Amalfi coast.
Operations resumed at sundown on Friday on part of the giant 17- deck Costa Concordia still above water after having been suspended hours earlier when the ship began slipping off a rocky ledge toward open water.
“We hope there could still be people alive inside ... If the search goes on, it means we still have hope,” Cosimo Nicastro, a coast guard spokesman, said as rescuers prepared to work through the night.
The search will focus on the third deck of the ship where the doomed luxury liner’s lifeboats were.
The liner crashed into rocks off Giglio Jan. 13 with 4,229 people from 60 countries on board and began to keel over just as passengers were settling down for supper.
The Italian cabinet on Friday declared a state of emergency for the island of Giglio, where there are fears that a potential spill from the ship’s tanks filled with 2,300 tonnes of fuel oil could cause an environmental disaster.
The Tuscan archipelago, where Giglio is located, is Europe’s biggest marine sanctuary and a popular holiday spot with pristine sandy beaches.
High waves in the Mediterranean had heightened fears that the ship, which is lying halfsubmerged on its side, could sink completely.
Eleven people have been confirmed dead in the tragedy so far, including four French nationals, one Italian and a Spaniard among the passengers and two crew members — a Peruvian waiter and a Hungarian violinist.
Three of the bodies recovered have not yet been identified.
Fresh amateur video footage came to light Friday, one showing a crew member misleading dozens of frightened passengers wearing life jackets by saying there was no alarm and they should return to their cabins.
Dutch company Smit Salvage meanwhile said it was ready to pump out the fuel in what is known as a “hot- tapping” operation, but officials say that would require suspending the search on the ship.