5 more bodies found on capsized cruise ship
Posted Jan 17, 2012 09:31:44 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Five more bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, raising the death toll to 11. Twenty-four people are still missing.
The bodies were found after naval divers blasted holes into the hull to make it easier for them to search.
A recording of the telephone conversation between the captain, Francesco Schettino, and the port commander as the disaster unfolded has been leaked. Over and over again, the commander ordered the captain to get back on his crippled ship.
Schettino appeared before an Italian prosecutor Tuesday; however, on the advice of his lawyer, refused to answer any questions.
He’s facing possible charges of manslaughter, abandoning ship — charges that could carry up to 15 years in prison.
The cruise ship was built in 2006 by Costa Cruises, which is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines.
On Monday, the CEO of the company that owns the ship has publicly acknowledged human error on the part of the captain is the likely cause.
He said the cruise liner passed all safety and technical tests in its 2011 evaluation.
There are also reports the captain may have ventured too close to shore because he was showing off to tourists.
There are some reports the navigational gear was knocked out because of a power outage, but U.S. coast guard officer Aaron Vanhuysen doubts it.
“Cruise ships have a redundancy of back-up systems — they just don’t have one radar, they’ll have two or three radars. If they were to lose one of their generators, they have a back-up emergency generator,” Vanhuysen said.
All 12 Canadian passengers survived.
Meanwhile, according to cruisecritic.com, Costa Cruises has announced compensation plans for travelers booked on upcoming Concordia cruises. Click here for more details.