Captain to be questioned; 29 people still missing

Captain Francesco Schettino will appear before a judge Tuesday The ship captain's attorney says he is "shattered, dismayed, saddened" 25 passengers and 4 crew members remain unaccounted for, the coast guard says Rescue efforts are continuing on the Costa Concordia, where at least 6 have died Giglio, Italy (CNN) -- The captain of the cruise ship that wrecked off Italy's western coast will be questioned by authorities Tuesday at a hearing, his attorney said. Francesco Schettino is under arrest and may face charges that include manslaughter, shipwreck, and abandoning a ship when passengers were still on board, according to Italian prosecutor Francesco Verusio. Schettino could face up to 15 years in prison, he said. At the closed hearing, a preliminary investigation judge will decide whether Schettino will remain detained. The captain has not yet been questioned, but more than 100 witnesses, including passengers and crew, have been interviewed, the prosecutor said. The captain's attorney, Bruno Leporatti, said in a statement Monday that Schettino was "shattered, dismayed, saddened for the loss of lives and strongly disturbed." But, he said, Schettino is "nonetheless comforted by the fact that he maintained during those moments the necessary lucidity to put in place a difficult emergency maneuver ... bringing the ship to shallow waters." That move, Leporatti said, saved the lives of many passengers and crew members. Italian prosecutors have ruled out a technical error as the cause of the incident, saying the captain was on the bridge at the time and had made a "grave error." Overheard on CNN.com: Worst-case scenario strikes Late Monday, the head of Italy's coast guard said 29 people remained unaccounted for from the partially sunken cruise ship Costa Concordia -- a sharp spike from earlier estimates of the missing. Coast guard chief Marco Brusco said the whereabouts of four crew members and 25 passengers were unknown, Italy's ANSA news agency reported. Authorities earlier believed that 16 people were unaccounted for. The Costa Concordia hit rocks Friday night just off Italy's western coast, leading to what passengers described as a chaotic and surreal scene to evacuate and the deaths of at least six people. On Monday, rescue efforts were ongoing in and around the mammoth vessel, which was listing on its side off the island of Giglio. The search had been suspended earlier in the day because the vessel began to move, said the island's mayor, Sergio Ortelli. Coast Guard spokesman Filippo Marino said efforts had resumed, adding that rescuers will focus on retrieving the body of a man, presumably a passenger, discovered earlier in the day. var currExpandable="expand116"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='world/2012/01/15/allen-american-survivors-cruise-ship.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/1
20115041904-lok-rivers-italy-cruise-ship-captain-00004715-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand116Store=mObj; Captain blames charts for crash var currExpandable="expand216"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='world/2012/01/15/bts-nicastro-cruise-ship-crash.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120115114219-allen-american-survivors-cruise-ship-00013522-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand216Store=mObj; Coast Guard: Ship too close to island var currExpandable="expand316"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='world/2012/01/16/vause-cruise-ship-path.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120115082114-bts-nicastro-cruise-ship-crash-00004830-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand316Store=mObj; How the Costa Concordia ran aground However, he said the weather forecast has rescuers worried, as it calls for rising winds. The head of the company that owns the ship said Monday he has not given up hope of finding survivors. "Hope is the last thing to die," said Costa Cruises chairman and chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi. He addressed journalists at an emotional press conference Monday, apologizing repeatedly for the accident. Prosecutors are examining the ship's data recorder and expect to have results within days, Verusio said. They are also considering whether others may share responsibility for the crash with the captain. Foschi placed blame for the wreck squarely on the captain, however, saying Schettino had deviated from frequently traveled routes. "The captain decided to change the route and he went into water that he did not know in advance," Foschi said. He said the company was limited in its ability to investigate the incident because it did not have the data recorder. Costa Concordia Christened: 2006 Concordia: Italian for "concord" or "harmony." Weight: 114,000 gross tonnage Length: 951 feet (290m) Max speed: 23 knots Accommodation: 1,500 cabins Facilities: Wellness center, five restaurants, 13 bars, four pools, giant movie screen. Schettino, who has been with Costa since 2002, had never been involved in an accident before, Foschi said. He downplayed the possibility that alcohol may have played a role in the crash, saying he did not believe Schettino drank, and that all crew were subject to random drug and alcohol tests by Costa Cruises. The company had said earlier that Schettino may have made "significant" errors that led to the wreck. "The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and the captain's judgment in handling the emergency appears to have not followed standard Costa procedures," Costa Cruises said in a statement Sunday. The ship had about 2,300 tons of fuel on board at the time of the wreck, Foschi said Monday, adding that so far there was "absolutely no evidence of fuel leaking into the sea." Divers have been searching the skyscraper-sized ship, working underwater in pitch blackness, in hopes of finding the missing. There were roughly 4,200 people on the Costa Concordia when it ran aground. Among those unaccounted for were two Americans. The U.S. State Department identified them Monday as Gerald and Barbara Ann Heil. The U.S. Embassy has requested information from "anyone with information" regarding the Heils' whereabouts, the State Department said. The Heils live in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, according to CNN affiliate WCCO, and have four children and 15 grandchildren. Their daughter, Sarah, told CBS Radio in Chicago that the couple was planning to travel after retiring, WCCO said. The disaster's impact on earnings will cost the ship's owner at least $85 million to $95 million in the fiscal year to November, parent company Carnival Corporation said Monday -- not including "other costs to the business that are not possible to determine at this time." Foschi said passengers would get "material compensation for their loss," but declined to go into details. var currExpandable="expand134"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='world/2012/01/15/mcedwards-ship-update.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120115101427-mcedwards-ship-update-00012908-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand134Store=mObj; Survivors from Italian cruise ship speak if (typeof cnnArticleGallery == "undefined") { var cnnArticleGallery = {}; } var expGallery3426=new ArticleExpandableGallery();  Map shows location of disaster Map shows location of disaster var currExpandable="expand334"; if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);} var mObj={}; mObj.type='video'; mObj.contentId=''; mObj.source='world/2012/01/15/lok-rivers-italy-cruise-ship-captain.cnn'; mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120115041904-lok-rivers-italy-cruise-ship-captain-00004715-story-body.jpg"; mObj.lgImageX=300; mObj.lgImageY=169; mObj.origImageX="214"; mObj.origImageY="120"; mObj.contentType='video'; CNN.expElements.expand334Store=mObj; Captain blames charts for crash .cnnArticleGalleryNav{border:1px solid #000;cursor:pointer;float:left;height:25px;text-align:center;width:25px} .cnnArticleGalleryNavOn{background-color:#C03;border:1px solid #000;float:left;height:25px;text-align:center;width:20px} .cnnArticleGalleryNavDisabled{background-color:#222;border:1px solid #000;color:#666;float:left;height:25px;text-align:center;width:25px} .cnnArticleExpandableTarget{background-color:#000;display:none;position:absolute} .cnnArticlePhotoContainer{height:146px;width:214px} .cnnArticleBoxImage{cursor:pointer;height:146px;padding-top:0;width:214px} .cnnArticleGalleryCaptionControl{background-color:#000;color:#FFF} .cnnArticleGalleryCaptionControlText{cursor:pointer;float:right;font-size:10px;padding:3px 10px 3px 3px} .cnnArticleGalleryPhotoContainer cite{background:none repeat scroll 0 0 #000;bottom:48px;color:#FFF;height:auto;left:420px;opacity:.7;padding:10px;position:absolute;width:200px} .cnnArticleGalleryClose{background-color:#fff;display:block;text-align:right} .cnnArticleGalleryCloseButton{cursor:pointer} .cnnArticleGalleryNavPrevNext span{background-color:#444;color:#CCC;cursor:pointer;float:left;height:23px;padding:4px 0 0;text-align:center;width:26px} .cnnArticleGalleryNavPrevNextDisabled span{background-color:#444;color:#666;float:left;height:23px;padding:4px 0 0;text-align:center;width:25px} .cnnVerticalGalleryPhoto {margin: 0 auto; padding-right: 68px; width: 270px;} .cnnGalleryContainer {float:left; margin: 0 0 20px 0; padding: 0 27px 0 10px; clear:left} if (typeof cnnArticleGallery == "undefined") { var cnnArticleGallery = {}; } if(typeof cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList =="undefined"){ cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList = []; } var expGallery344=new ArticleExpandableGallery(); expGallery344.setImageCount(17); cnn_adbptrackpgalimg("Cruise ship runs aground off Italy", 1); The Costa Concordia, owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises, ran aground on a sand bank off the island of Giglio on Friday, January 13. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":true,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":1,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Firemen search for missing people in and around the partially submerged Costa Concordia cruise ship on Monday, January 16. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":2,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Firemen work on the Costa Concordia cruise ship on Monday. The captain may have made "significant" errors that led to wreck, the cruise line said late Sunday. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":3,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Military rescuers patrol next to the listing Costa Concordia on Sunday January 15. A spiraling water slide can be seen on the deck. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":4,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Boats patrol near the Costa Concordia on Sunday. Divers searched for people who were still missing after Friday's accident. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":5,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Rescuers search the Costa Concordia on Sunday. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":6,"title":"ship rescue"} Emergency services work from the island of Giglio on Sunday, near where the cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":7,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} The ship has a breach on the hull about 90 meters (300 feet) long, according to Officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":8,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} On Saturday, January 14, crowds prepare to leave the island of Giglio, where passengers were staying after the ship ran aground. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":9,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} The Concordia, built in 2006, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Cagliari and Palermo, Italy; Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Marseille, France. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":10,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, on Saturday after being evacuated from the ship. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":11,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Costa says the emergency operation continues and that it is helping passengers and crew return home. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":12,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Italian police assist in the rescue after the cruise ship ran aground near the Italian island of Giglio. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":13,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} The huge ship, which which is now lying on its side in shallow water, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground at about dinner time. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":14,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Passengers arrive on land after they were rescued. There was chaos as passengers scrambled to get off the ship. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":15,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Evacuation efforts started promptly but were made "extremely difficult" by the position of the listing ship. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":16,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} The Costa Concordia cruise ship is pictured in March 2009 in Civitavecchia, Rome's tourist port. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":34,"y":4,"pos":17,"title":"Cruise ship runs aground off Italy"} Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy ship rescue Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Cruise ship runs aground off Italy HIDE CAPTION << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 > >> Cruise ship runs aground off Italy Event.observe(window, 'load', function() { //report the first gallery image to ADBP if(typeof(cnn_adbptrackpgalimg) == 'function' && typeof(cnnArticleGallery) != 'undefined') { cnn_adbptrackpgalimg(cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[0].image, ""); } }); The ship is expected to be out of service "for the remainder of the current fiscal year if not longer," the company said. Schettino joined Costa Cruises as a safety officer in 2002 before being appointed captain four years later, the company said. Even with its admission that mistakes were made, the Genoa-based cruise company defended the ship's crew in the face of criticism on the part of some passengers, who said the crew appeared helpless and overwhelmed as passengers rushed for lifeboats. "It is becoming clear that the crew of the Costa Concordia acted bravely and swiftly to help evacuate more than 4,000 individuals during a very challenging situation," the company said, adding all crew members are trained and the passengers earlier took part in an evacuation drill. Survivors have described the scene -- after the ship hit rocks near Giglio, off the coast of Tuscany, and turned over on its side -- as chaos. "There was no one taking command," passenger Lauren Moore told HLN's Mike Galanos. She said she was having dinner with a group of friends when she heard the crunch of the ship hitting the rock and the crash of plates and glasses falling to the floor. "It was a terrifying sound and we knew it wasn't normal," she said. Moore ran to her cabin and then to board a lifeboat. "It was so chaotic ... Everyone was basically fighting for his or her own life," she said. Some passengers braved the chilly water, with a temperature of about 57 degrees, and swam to safety. Others had no choice and fell in. Nighttime temperatures on Giglio have recently dipped below freezing. Authorities have said at least 20 people were injured, in addition to those killed and missing. There were fears the death toll could rise as rescuers searched the ship, which was nearly 50% submerged and had a gash in its hull, authorities said. Questions and criticism continue about what caused the shipwreck and the adequacy of the response. Speaking on Italian television, the ship's captain insisted the rocks that the Concordia hit were not marked on his map. "On the nautical chart, it was marked just as water," Schettino said, adding that the ship was about 328 yards (300 meters) from shore. But Coast Guard spokesman Cosimo Nicastro insisted that the waters where the ship ran aground were well-mapped. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor. Nicastro said the Coast Guard was investigating why the ship took the course it did. "We know where the ship was," he said. "We know it was too close to the island. ... We don't know why." Built in 2006, the Concordia had been on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo. The ship was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground. The dead include two elderly people found Sunday, two French tourists and a crew member from Peru, port authorities in Livorno said. One of the victims was a 65-year-old woman who died of a heart attack, authorities said. The Spanish Foreign Ministry named one of the victims Monday as Guillermo Gual Buades, 68, saying his family had identified him. if(typeof CNN.expElements==='object'){CNN.expElements.init();} CNN's Livia Borghese, Hada Messia, Jim Boulden, Al Goodman and Richard Allen Greene contributed to this report.

Captain to be questioned; 29 people still missing 2012-01-16T23:15:00-08:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Undercover 999