Captain Coward: 'I only left because I FELL into lifeboat when ship listed suddenly as I was trying to help'

  • 'I didn't even have a lifejacket because I had given it to one of the passengers'
  • 'All of a sudden the boat listed 60-70 degrees, I got trapped and ended up in one of the lifeboats'
  • Transcripts show coastguard demanded he 'Get back on board, damn it' after abandoning ship
  • German woman feared missing is found alive according to reports
  • He handles ships like he's driving a Ferrari, claims colleague, calling Schettino 'a daredevil'

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The skipper of the Costa Concordia has claimed he abandoned ship after he ‘fell into a lifeboat’.

‘Captain Coward’ Francesco Schettino said he had no choice but to desert the £400million liner and its thousands of passengers when it came to grief after hitting rocks.

Schettino, 52, has been released from prison and placed under house arrest after being held since Friday night’s disaster on suspicion of manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing shipwreck. If convicted, he could face 15 years in jail.

Last night, he and his wife Fabiola were inside their £175,000 apartment in the beautiful town of Meta di Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast after he arrived home in the early hours of Wednesday.

His release came as divers suspended their search of the Concordia yesterday when the partially submerged vessel started to slip from the rocks on which it has been precariously resting since running aground off the island of Giglio.

The death toll remained at 11 last night but the number of those missing was cut from 22 to 21 after a German woman on the list was found to have returned home. Gertrud Goergens walked into a police station in Germany, according to Italian media reports.

Scroll down to hear the call between Schettino and the coastguard

Schettino (centre) is escorted into a prison by police officers at Grosseto, after telling magistrates his actions saved 'thousands of lives'

Schettino (centre) is escorted into a prison by police officers at Grosseto, after telling magistrates his actions saved 'thousands of lives'

Schettino made his bizarre excuse for leaving the ship during a three-hour court hearing in the mainland town of Grosseto before his release.

He told investigating magistrate Valeria Montesarchio: ‘The passengers were rushing all over the decks trying to scramble into the lifeboats. I didn’t even have a life jacket because I had given it to one of the passengers – I was trying to get them into the lifeboats in an orderly fashion. All of a sudden the boat listed between 60-70 degrees. I tripped and ended up in one of the lifeboats. That’s why I was in there.’

Schettino's behaviour has already been called into question after dramatic audio tapes revealed how a furious harbour official had ordered him back on to the bridge to oversee the rescue, after he was shocked to learn he had already left the Concordia despite dozens of passengers still needing help.

The claims come as rescue divers suspended their search after the ship slipped 'a few more centimetres' from its rocky resting place, sparking fears it could soon plummet 100m down to the bottom of the sea.

Under house arrest: People walk in the street where Francesco Schettino lives with his wife and daughter

Under house arrest: People walk in the street where Francesco Schettino lives with his wife and daughter

Bruno Leporatti, the lawyer of Captain Francesco Schettino, meets the media in Grosseto today
A man wears a T-shirt with a message that is equivalent to "Go on board, damn it" in downtown Naples

Bruno Leporatti, the lawyer of Captain Francesco Schettino, meets the media in Grosseto, while, right, a man wears one of the fastest-selling T-shirts in the country which reads 'Get back on board, damn it' in mockery of the man who abandoned his ship before the women and passengers

The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia is shown run aground off the coast of Giglio in this satellite photo. Eleven people are dead and 21 still missing

The luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia is shown run aground off the coast of Giglio in this satellite photo. Eleven people are dead and 21 still missing

Amazingly he still insisted he had 'saved thousands of lives', although he admitted he had made a mistake by sailing so close to the island of Giglio tearing a 70m gash in the hull of the Concordia.

Prosecutors said his explanation was 'curious to say the least' and added that he would also be subjected to drug and alcohol tests as part of the investigation. Today he was back at his home in Meta di Sorrento near Naples after being released from Grosseto jail where he was being held.

He was released from Grosseto jail and driven back through the night to his home in Meta di Sorrento near Naples with a police escort, accompanied by his wife Fabiola and other family members, entering the house through a side gate and refusing to speak to a crowd of waiting journalists.

Despite freeing the captain, Judge Montesarchio wrote that he made no attempt to return to his ship and described his actions as ‘inept, negligent and imprudent’.

Amid reports that Schettino had vowed never to return to sea, a former captain who sailed with him claimed he handled ships ‘like a Ferrari driver’.

Martino Pellegrino said: ‘I’ve always had my reservations about Schettino. He was too exuberant. A daredevil. More than once I had to put him in his place.’

Divers of the Italian paramilitary Carabinieri police are in the water close to the wrecked 'Costa Concordia ship
Members of the rescue team, volunteers and firefighters, eat at an improvised lunchroom in the Carlo Pisacane primary school, Giglio island

Members of the rescue team, volunteers and firefighters, eat at an improvised lunchroom in the Carlo Pisacane primary school, Giglio island, during break in diving

Prosecutors said they were 'surprised' that Schettino had been given house arrest while his lawyer Bruno Leporatti said: 'You cannot send a man to jail just because the public want it,'  a reference to the fact that since the disaster the cowardly captain has been labelled the 'most hated man in Italy'.

The revelation follows yesterday's claim he defied direct orders to return to his stricken ship.

Extracts from a heated telephone conversation between Schettino and an Italian coastguard on the night of the sinking reveal the skipper tried to argue that he could co-ordinate the evacuation of thousands of stranded passengers from the safety of his lifeboat.

At one point the coastguard, clearly infuriated by Schettino’s feeble excuses, shouts: ‘You get back on board! That is an order!’

He also says: ‘Listen, Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad.

'I will make you pay for this. Damn it, go back on board!’

The coastguard has become a national idol. Gregorio De Falco is the subject of Facebook sites and even T-shirts.

Another hero to emerge is Captain Roberto Bosio, who was off duty on the Concordia and gave the order to abandon ship after Schettino delayed for 45 minutes. He said: ‘Only a disgraceful man would have left all those people on board.’

It was also claimed yesterday that the theme tune from Titanic, My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, was playing on the ship at the precise moment it began to take on water.

Choppy: The Costa Concordia continues to slip down from its rocky resting place, prompting fears it could soon plummet down to the bottom of the sea

Choppy: The Costa Concordia continues to slip down from its rocky resting place, prompting fears it could soon plummet down to the bottom of the sea

Trawling: Police scuba divers scour the ship for survivors and bodies, using explosives to blast debris and other obstacles out of their path

Trawling: Police scuba divers scour the ship for survivors and bodies, using explosives to blast debris and other obstacles out of their path

A hole created by micro explosions in the Costa Concordia as rescuers attempt to get to areas of the ship they haven't reached

A hole created by micro explosions in the Costa Concordia as rescuers attempt to get to areas of the ship they haven't reached

The transcript shows how the coastguard mocked the fleeing captain as he urged him to fulfil his duty by returning to the £400million vessel, which came to grief after hitting rocks off a Tuscan island.

But with his terrified second-in-command sitting next to him, he flatly refuses – complaining that it is ‘dark and he can’t see anything’ – before asking how many fatalities there have been.

As Schettino faces the prospect of charges of multiple manslaughter, causing shipwreck and abandoning ship, the devastating transcript of Friday night’s events appeared to make a mockery of his claims that he had ‘saved’ lives.

In a series of increasingly desperate telephone exchanges with coastguards, the first conversation with Schettino – Concordia’s captain of six years – is only nine minutes after the luxury liner – containing 4,200 passengers – hit an underwater reef.

Even though it had suffered a fatal gash in its port-side hull, Schettino tells a worried harbourmaster that everything is fine, other than a ‘small technical problem’.

A helicopter of Vigili del Fuoco flies over cruise ship Costa Concordia
A general view of cruise ship Costa Concordia on January 18, 2012 in Giglio Porto

Rescue workers continue searching the boat today although the chances of finding any survivors are all but gone

When officials again managed to contact the captain, who by now was safely on shore despite hundreds of passengers still being on board, he says he is unable to return as the liner has started to list.

Instead of obeying the orders, Schettino was reportedly seen getting into a taxi and leaving the scene as passengers were left to fend for themselves.

It has previously been claimed that the disgraced skipper steered to within 300 yards of the rocky shores of the picturesque isle of Giglio so he could perform a ‘salute of respect’ for a retired officer as well as to impress his head waiter’s family on shore.

Costa Concordia wreck

He should have been at least five miles out to sea but insists the rocks he struck were not marked on his charts. He has also been accused of dining with beautiful women as the liner crashed into rocks and of raiding the safe before jumping ship.

Last night Schettino’s wife Fabiola came to his defence, saying: ‘Much of what has been published about his actions are still to be verified while those who know him well have testified that he is absolutely dedicated to his work and his professionalism as can be demonstrated by his quick, decisive actions which helped limit the consequences of the accident for all the passengers onboard.'

Meanwhile, hopes faded for the 24 passengers and crew still missing, including honeymooning bride Maria D’Introno, 30. The rest of her party jumped into the sea and swam to a nearby headland.

Her husband, Vincenzo Rosselli, 40, of Biella near Turin, said: ‘The main thing on my mind was for my 74-year-old father who has a problem with his hip. We all had lifejackets but Maria couldn’t swim and she was scared of the water.’

On Tuesday rescuers created a series of controlled explosions on the 117,000-ton ship so that the hundreds of cabins and corridors could be searched more quickly. The idea was also to provide a vital escape route should the Concordia slip from its resting place on a rock and plunge 100 yards to the seabed. Dogs have also been brought in to help with the search.

All are working under constant danger that waves or movement might send debris or heavy furniture crashing down on them.  In one part of the ship, a grand piano is said to be leaning precariously against an underwater wall.

One rescue worker said it would need a ‘miracle’ to find any survivors in the flooded section of the ship as they would need a freak air pocket for oxygen and to keep dry to avoid hypothermia.

It has also been claimed that junior officers led a ‘mutiny’ against Schettino and ordered passengers to the lifeboats after he delayed in giving the command to evacuate for an hour after hitting the rocks.

Extraordinary footage of Friday’s evacuation, shot by infrared video camera from a coastguard helicopter, emerged of hundreds of passengers on the hull of the upturned ship trying to clamber down a single rope to a few crowded, wave-lashed lifeboats.

One man said emerging from the terror inside the ship to find himself perched on top of the slowly submerging hull was ‘like waking up from one nightmare and stumbling into another’. By this time, it was claimed, crew members were shoving their way past passengers. One of the crew was screaming: ‘I don’t want to die!’

The view of the stricken vessel from the Isola del Giglio

The view of the stricken vessel from the Isola del Giglio

The bay where the cruise ship came to rest on the rocks of the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio

The bay where the cruise ship came to rest on the rocks of the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio

A picture taken by the Italian Space Agency which was taken on Saturday, about nine hours after Costa Concordia ran aground

A picture taken by the Italian Space Agency which was taken on Saturday, about nine hours after Costa Concordia ran aground. The ship can be seen in white in the foreground


Transcript of conversation between captain and coastguard

 

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