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The cruise ship Costa Concordia lies stricken off the shore of the Italian island of Giglio on Jan. 16. The official death toll is now six with others still missing. (2430/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
The owners of the cruise ship that went off course and fatally crashed on rocks said the ship’s captain acted on his own and made a mistake.
Pier-Luigi Foschi, the CEO of the Costa Cruise, said the captain of the Concordia, Francesco Schettino, did not follow the company’s route, according to statements delivered in a press conference on Monday.
“The procedures and strict training and rules that were given were not respected,” Foschi said. The company said it would provide him with a lawyer.
Schettino navigated the Concordia too close to shore off the island of Giglio, before it crashed on some rocks on Friday, Jan. 13, killing six people with between 15 and 30 more still missing, suspected to be trapped in now underwater cabins.
Schettino, who is currently being held in custody, said the rocks did not appear on his navigation chart. It is the first accident for the captain, who started work with Costa in 2002.
The crash left a massive 230-foot gash in the hull of the cruise ship, causing it to topple over on its side.
The ship was also equipped with visual and sound alarms whenever it goes off course, Foschi said, but added that these systems can be manually overridden.
The work of rescue workers and divers attempting to locate those missing, in the hopes of still finding survivors, was hampered by poor weather conditions over the weekend, according to ANSA news agency.
Costa has not yet decided if it is going to list the Concordia as a total loss, but the company lost an estimated $93 million due to the accident, Cruise Industry News reported.
The crash sent shockwaves throughout the cruise industry, with shares of parent company Carnival Plc., the largest cruise line operator in the world, dropping 17 percent.
Ecological Risks
Italian Environment Minister Corrado Clini told reporters on Monday there were some signs that some liquid was leaking from the ship. There is around 2,300 tons of fuel on board the ship that could be released into the water if it breaks up.
“The environmental risk for the island of Giglio is very high,” he said according to the Environmental News Service (ENS).
“The area affected by the possible environmental risk depends on the currents,” Clini added. “Surely the island of Giglio, probably the whole archipelago, perhaps the coast. It depends on how the sea moves.” The archipelago is a popular resort area of Tuscany.
In an open letter to the minister from Legambiente, Italy’s largest environmental group, commended him on his actions so far, and his new job as environment minister.
The group asked him to make the area around the archipelago a protected area from a whole list of potential hazards including ships transporting dangerous substances, Costa cruise ships, illegal fishing, and attempts at oil drilling.
The group pointed out that if the oil leaks from the ship, “The associated risks to the health of citizens and the tourist economy of the area would be incalculable.”
In urging a policy of protection, the group wrote, “A civilized country can not afford to cross our fingers and bet on luck,” adding that the crisis should be taken as an opportunity to “give a future to our sea.”
