Cruise ship captain arrested for manslaughter, abandoning ship

I reported on this earlier today, here's more from CNN:

The Italian captain of the cruise ship that ran aground -- killing three people and injuring 20 more -- was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for abandoning ship and manslaughter, said a local prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy.

Abandoning ship is the more serious of the potential charges, authorities said.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, had been earlier interviewed by investigators in Porto Santo Stefano about what happened when the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia struck rocks in shallow water off Italy's western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.

Authorities were looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, officials said. The ship is owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises.

"At the moment we can't exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn't send a mayday. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing," Del Santo said prior to the announcement of the arrest.

"Fear and panic are comprehensible in a ship long over 300 meters with over 4,000 passengers," Del Santo said. "We can confirm that the ship has a breach on the hull of about 90 meters, and that the right side of it is completely under water."

The three people dead were two French tourists and a crew member from Peru, Port authorities in Livorno said.

Giuseppe Orsina, a spokesman with the local civil protection agency, said 43 to 51 people were missing, though authorities are reviewing passenger lists to confirm the exact figure.

Hoping the reports of the missing are simply due to what must be a most confusing and chaotic scene.

Comments

[RandomThoughts]

Nothing says "Clueless incompetence" more than a captain sinking a vessel worth $570 million in waters it sails routinely, and then abandoning it with passengers still aboard.

Ironic that abandoning the vessel is more serious than the death of passengers in his care. Ah Italy...