ROME – The cruise ship captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the ship owner’s CEO said Friday as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers.
CEO Pierluigi Foschi told Italian state TV that the company spoke to the captain at 10:05 p.m., some 20 minutes after the ship ran aground on Jan. 13, but could not offer proper assistance because the captain’s description “did not correspond to the truth.”
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Capt. Francesco Schettino said only that he had “problems” on board but did not mention hitting a reef.
Likewise, Foschi said crew members were not informed of the gravity of the situation.
Passenger video shown on Italian TV indicates crew members telling passengers to go to their cabins as late as 10:25 p.m. The abandon ship alarm sounded just before 11 p.m.
The $450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into well-charted rocks off the island of Giglio a week ago. Eleven people have been confirmed dead.
The Concordia shifted again on its rocky perch Friday, forcing the suspension of diving search operations for the 21 people still missing and raising concerns about the stability of the ship’s resting place. But the search in areas above the waterline resumed in the evening after the ship was deemed stable.
The remarks by the CEO are the latest to indicate a lack of proper communication with authorities on land as the emergency unfolded.
An audiotape of the Concordia’s first contact with maritime authorities has a Concordia officer repeatedly replying that the ship had experienced a blackout, even though it had hit the reef more than half an hour earlier.
Italian media reported the officer on the call was Schettino, but that could not be independently confirmed.
Costa Crociere SpA, which offered support to the captain initially, has now turned its back on the man who is under investigation for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship. Schettino is under house arrest near Naples.
Costa in recent days has suspended Schettino, announced it won’t pay his legal fees and has signed on as a civil party in the prosecution, a move that would allow it to seek damages in the event of a guilty verdict.
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