mike honcho
Knuckleheads
(AFP) - The captain of a luxury liner that hit a rock and keeled over off the coast of Tuscany, killing at least six, did not respond to an order to return on board to oversee rescue operations, according to a taped telephone conversation released Monday.
ANSA news agency said Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, was evasive when ordered by a port official to supervise the rescue hours after the disaster Friday while several hundred people were still trapped on board.
"Now you go to the bow, you climb up the emergency ladder and coordinate the evacuation," the official tells him, according to the transcript of the conversation recorded on one of the ship's "black boxes."
"You must tell us how many people, children, women and passengers are there and the exact number of each category," he said.
"What are you doing? Are you abandoning the rescue? Captain, this is an order, I am the one in charge now. You have declared abandoning ship," he said, adding, "There are already bodies."
"How many?" Schettino says, prompting the cutting reply, "That is for you to tell me, what are you doing? Do you want to go home?"
Earlier, Schettino said in another telephone call that we "cannot get on board because the rear of the ship is keeling over."
ANSA also said there was a kind of "mutiny" among the crew which decided on an evacuation before being given formal orders by the captain.
Schettino was arrested on Saturday along with first officer Ciro Ambrosio. They face possible charges of homicide and abandoning ship before all the passengers were rescued.
Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpps/news/c...der-dpgonc-20110116-to_17112557#ixzz1jgNaX3cn
ANSA news agency said Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, was evasive when ordered by a port official to supervise the rescue hours after the disaster Friday while several hundred people were still trapped on board.
"Now you go to the bow, you climb up the emergency ladder and coordinate the evacuation," the official tells him, according to the transcript of the conversation recorded on one of the ship's "black boxes."
"You must tell us how many people, children, women and passengers are there and the exact number of each category," he said.
"What are you doing? Are you abandoning the rescue? Captain, this is an order, I am the one in charge now. You have declared abandoning ship," he said, adding, "There are already bodies."
"How many?" Schettino says, prompting the cutting reply, "That is for you to tell me, what are you doing? Do you want to go home?"
Earlier, Schettino said in another telephone call that we "cannot get on board because the rear of the ship is keeling over."
ANSA also said there was a kind of "mutiny" among the crew which decided on an evacuation before being given formal orders by the captain.
Schettino was arrested on Saturday along with first officer Ciro Ambrosio. They face possible charges of homicide and abandoning ship before all the passengers were rescued.
Read more on myFOXdfw.com: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpps/news/c...der-dpgonc-20110116-to_17112557#ixzz1jgNaX3cn
