The captain of the luxury cruise ship that ran aground and capsized off Italy on January 14 took the ship close to the rocky shores of Giglio Island to please the vessel’s head waiter, who hails from the island, Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily said on Monday.
Captain Francesco Schettino, 52, steered the Costa Concordia toward the island in a "carelessly clumsy manner" moments before a catastrophic collision with underwater rocks that caused the ship to list violently and eventually capsize, Italian prosecutors said.
Shortly before the accident Schettino called head waiter Antonello Tievoli to the bridge saying, “Antonello, come see, we are very close to your Giglio,” the daily quoted a witness as saying.
Witnesses say that just before the ship struck bottom, Tievoli warned the captain: “Careful, we are extremely close to shore.”
The death toll from the disaster rose to six on Monday after rescuers discovered three more victims, including the bodies of two elderly men wearing life vests inside the vessel. About 15 people are still missing.
Schettino, who is currently being questioned on suspicion of multiple manslaughter, claimed that the rock formation had not appeared on nautical charts and had not been picked up by the ship's navigation systems. "We should have had deep water beneath us," he said. "We were about 300 meters [1,000 ft] from the rocks more or less."
Italy’s Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola,
a naval admiral, said the disaster did not appear to have been caused by natural or technical factors. "In my estimation there was a serious human error, which had dramatic and tragic consequences," he told RAI state television.
It was long-standing practice for the Costa Concordia to sail close to the island, world media said.
Costa Concordia’s CEO Pier Juigi has told a press conference that "the direct impact of the damage currently stands at $93 million."
