Police arrest Italian captain of cruise ship that ran aground, killing 3.Porto Santo Stefano, Italy (
CNN) -- The captain of the colossal cruise ship that ran aground off a picturesque Italian island -- killing three people, injuring 20 and leaving dozens unaccounted for -- was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for abandoning ship and manslaughter, a local prosecutor said.Abandoning ship is the more serious of the potential charges, authorities said.
Two survivors on the Costa Concordia have been found inside the ship, Italy's ANSA news agency reported early Sunday. The man and woman have responded to the rescuers, but have not yet been reached, according to the news agency.With perhaps up to 50 people unaccounted for, divers suspended their efforts at dark, with plans to resume the search in the azure waters off the island of Giglio at dawn Sunday.Accounts of the chaos from many of the 3,200 passengers were reminiscent of a maritime disaster 100 years ago this April -- the loss of the RMS Titanic."
For me, the worst part of the whole ordeal" was when a lifeboat crew member told those boarding that it was "women and children first," said passenger Benji Smith of Boston."
All these families who were clinging to each other had to be separated," Smith told CNN.Questions abounded: Why was the ship so close to the shore? How fast was it moving? How well did the crew respond? According to many passengers, no one seemed in control.
The captain, Francesco Schettino, was interviewed here about what happened when the Costa Concordia struck rocks in shallow water off Italy's western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.Schettino said "
that rock was not indicated on the chart," according to ANSA. "Me and the crew, we were the last to abandon ship," he said.The ship was 2.5 miles off route when it struck a rocky sandbar. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor."
There are rocks, they are on the maps," said Capt. Cosimo Nicastro of the Italian Coast Guard. "What we know is the ship went really close to these rocks. ... We don't yet why.""Captain Schettino, who was on the bridge at the time, immediately understood the severity of the situation and performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew, and initiated security procedures to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation," he continued. "Unfortunately, that operation was complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship that made disembarkation difficult," Onorato said.The ship, which was lying on its side in shallow water Saturday evening, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground
."I'm not surprised that it (the ship) would wind up tipping like this," said Neil Gallagher, professor of naval architecture at the Webb Institute on Long Island, New York. "Something had to go wrong with either the controls or the navigation to get it to this condition."Chris B. McKesson, adjunct professor of naval architecture at the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of New Orleans, said, "
from the size of the gash, she must have been steaming at a pretty good pace."Read the full story
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