This story continues to reveal new/different information on a daily basis:
The captain of the cruise ship that capsized on Friday, killing at least 11 people, has admitted making a navigation mistake, Italian media say.
Captain Francesco Schettino told investigators he had “ordered the turn too late” as the luxury ship sailed close to an island, according to a leaked interrogation transcript.
According to the leaked transcript quoted by Italian media, Capt Schettino said the route of the Costa Concordia on the first day of its Mediterranean cruise had been decided as it left the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome, on Friday.
The captain reportedly told the investigating judge in the city of Grosseto that he had decided to sail close to Giglio to salute a former captain who had a home on the Tuscan island.
“I was navigating by sight because I knew the depths well and I had done this manoeuvre three or four times,” he reportedly said.
“But this time I ordered the turn too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow. I don’t know why it happened.”
(Source BBC News)
Tags: costa concordia
January 27, 2012 at 15:38
“But this time I ordered the turn too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow…”
This might in fact be the absolute truth. We know from the course plots we’ve seen that the ship was approaching Giglio at an angle – broadly NE-wards – and that she then needed to turn due N to run past the harbour mouth (where there’s plenty of deep water). If the turn to the north was indeed “ordered too late” then that would put her in shallow water and shoals, especially to port (island-side), which is where she hit.
“I was navigating by sight because I knew the depths well and I had done this manoeuvre three or four times,”
It’s hard to comment on that.
January 28, 2012 at 11:14
Hi Tom, I don’t doubt that he messed-up but one local said this ‘Island Skimming’ thing was a tradition which passenger ships have carried out for 200 years.
Costa approved a similar manoeuvre last summer. In fact some sources have said that the Captain was requested to do it this time by Costa management. It is obviously far too dangerous to get that close with or without permission. I think a chain of errors and bad practice will be revealed with the Captain just being one link in the chain.