HUMAN ERROR may have been to blame for the loss of a cruise liner, the Costa Concordia, and at least five lives, the stricken vessel’s owners have said.
Costa Cruises said initial indications were that “significant human error” and a failure to follow company emergency procedures contributed to the disaster.
“While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship’s Master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences,” the company said in a statement last night.
“The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the captain’s judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures.”
Rescue workers were still searching for 15 people last night – nine passengers and six crew – after the Costa Concordiacruise ship ran aground off Italy's Tuscan coast on Friday night, resulting in the deaths of at least five people.
The captain of the luxury liner, which had more than 4,000 people on board, has been arrested after allegations that he left the vessel before some of the passengers.
Despite the calm sea, the rescue work off the island of Isola Del Giglio proved dangerous because of fears the grounded ship might slide and sink entirely.
Remarkably, three people – two Korean tourists and a ship’s officer – were found alive on the vessel between Saturday night and yesterday morning.
The Koreans had been on their honeymoon, while the officer, Manrico Giampetroni, had suffered a broken leg during the hectic evacuation. Rescue workers also discovered the bodies of two elderly Italians in lifejackets yesterday afternoon.
On Sky Italia TV yesterday afternoon, Grosseto public prosecutor Francesco Verusio confirmed media reports that the vessel’s captain, Francesco Schettino, had left the grounded and badly listing ship nearly five hours before the last of the passengers were rescued. Furthermore, the captain, who has been charged with manslaughter and “abandoning his post”, reportedly declined to return to the ship when ordered to do so by coast guard officers.
Many of the ship's 3,200 passengers were at dinner, just settling down to a plate of risotto alla zafferano, when the Concordiacrashed into the rocks in a collision that would have been felt by everyone aboard and which resulted in an immediate power failure.
The liner began to list almost immediately, with glasses sliding off the dining tables.
For more than an hour, the only official communication from the ship’s crew appears to have been an announcement calling on passengers to remain calm but suggesting the problem was merely an electrical failure.
Many passengers have pointed out that while the collision took place at 9.30pm, the order to abandon ship was issued only at 10.45pm.
Several passengers, including some of the 2,227 non-Italians from 63 countries – including three Irish people – confirmed that the evacuation of the US-owned ship took place against a background of chaos and disorganisation.
This may have been caused by the relative inexperience of some crew members, but may also have been caused by the fact that Capt Schettino had allegedly left the ship even before the “abandon ship” order was issued.
It also did not prove easy to launch the ship’s lifeboats, given that by this point the now-grounded ship was listing badly.
Former sailor Giuseppe Lanzafame told the daily La Repubblica:"We were left in the hands of incompetents. For more than an hour there was no precise information, and then there was chaos. Many of the crew didn't even know how to launch a lifeboat.
“There were Peruvians, Indians, Sri Lankans all screaming at one another . . . In the end, I took charge of launching our boat myself because they didn’t have a clue.”
A major question now is why the 114.5 tonne, 292-metre long Concordiaended up sailing so close to the Isola Del Giglio coastline. Mr Verusio yesterday claimed the Concordiahad sailed only 150 metres from the shoreline.
Capt Schettino told Mediaset TV the ship had hit rocks which were unmarked on his nautical charts.
Spokespeople for Costa Crociere, the Genoa-based company which runs the cruises but which has been controlled by US company Carnival Corporation since 1997, said the Concordia travelled this route on its Mediterranean cruise circuit 50 times a year.
Many Italian media outlets, however, have quoted speculation from Isola Del Giglio locals that the ship had been doing a “fly-by” at the time of the incident.
In what sounds like a scene from Federico Fellini's film Amacord, this manoeuvre involves the ship passing close to the island, where tourists and locals gather to watch the spectacle of its passing.
Other sailors suggested that perhaps the captain had chosen to sail close to land in order to save on fuel by travelling through shallow waters.
Whatever the explanation for the collision, the fact is that the Concordia crashed into rocks, immediately opening up a 70- metre gash on one side. Very quickly, the ship was taking on water and beginning to list.
At that point, the captain appears to have decided to make for the harbour of Giglio, where the boat eventually came to a halt, lying at a 90-degree angle close to the port entrance.
Some of the rescued tourists were accommodated in schools, a church and even in private homes.
Some were put up in hastily reopened hotels on the island of Giglio, while others were transported by ferry to Porto San Stefano on the Italian mainland.
Both Grosseto public prosecutors and the ministry of transport have opened investigations into the shipwreck, while the cruise liner’s black box has also reportedly been recovered.