Concordia Captain: 'OK, Whatever' as Ship Teeters: Video

  Dramatic video footage has emerged from the Costa Concordia's
command deck showing the relaxed reaction of the cruise ship's
captain in the crucial hour after it struck rocks off the Tuscan
island of Giglio.

Broadcast by the Mediaset network TG5 news show, the 9-minute
video reveals, possibly better than the broken voyage data
recorder (VDR), what really happened on January 13 on the bridge
of the ship shortly after the catastrophic collision.

The film clearly shows a soft spoken, less than dynamic captain
who waited a full hour before telling passengers to evacuate the
stricken liner.

It opens with the command deck only illuminated by emergency lights.
After the collision at 9:42 p.m., the power failed and senior
members of the crew had just realized the devastating damage.

"Here everything is going to hell.. There is a hole, I believe...so water is
coming in," a voice can be heard saying.

A man believed to be Captain Francesco Schettino then replies: "I've spoken to
the control room and they say with two compartments flooded we should survive,
there is no problem."

He continues: "Let's wait a bit more, so we make leeway toward more shallow
waters. Then we can drop the anchor...at worst we can sit on the seabed. We
shall see."

With the ship tilting at a 12-degree angle, and the deck crowded with too many
people, no decision is made.

At 10:25 p.m., a man identified in the video as Schettino, is seen talking on
the phone while a less calm officer is heard saying: "Commander, passengers are
getting on lifeboats spontaneously!"

Schettino then replies. "Vabbuò," (meaning OK, whatever).

As Schettino appears unable to make any decision, an officer is heard asking:
"Shall we give the general emergency signal?"

With the ship tilting at a 20-degree angle, confusion and panic begin to reign
on the bridge.

"What shall we do? What shall we do?," an unnerved officer is heard shouting.

A voice replies: "General emergency," but the order to abandon ship is not
given.

Instead the man believed to be Captain Schettino is heard saying: "Send tug
boats please... very quickly."

For three long minutes, the officers did not receive any other instruction.
Chaos dominated the bridge.

Finally, at 10:32 p.m., the official "abandon ship" signal is given on the
bridge. Calls of "abandon ship, abandon ship," are heard, but no official
announcement is made to the passengers.

The film shows the dangerously listing ship corridors as the mystery camera man
or woman rushes to lifeboats.

Finally, after 10 more minutes, seven short whistles -- the universal  signal
to abandon ship -- are heard along with announcements to keep calm and go to the
"master stations" where the life boasts are located.

At 10:56 p.m. the first lifeboats are lowered. Had the ship been evacuated
immediately after hitting the rocks instead of 74 minutes later, probably no
lives would have been lost, said maritime experts.

The film is now in the hands of Francesco Verusio, the magistrate leading the
investigation into the disaster, which caused the death of 17 people leaving 15
missing.

"This video is of vital investigative importance. We have already questioned
everybody who was on the bridge and nobody told us about this footage," Verusio
told TG5.

The news show did not reveal who shot the footage. The daily Corriere della
Sera speculated that the sounds of heels through the ship corridors meant that
the Moldovan dancer Domnica Cemortan, who was spotted dining with Schettino just
minutes before the collision, may have taken the video.

TG5 promises to reveal today the second part of the video, showing dramatic
images of the ship's evacuation.
  http://news.discovery.com/human/video-concordia-captain-120211.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPL7UggeIR4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U11D1ATf1H4

  The footage was released by an Italian television channel two days after a
separate piece of film showing the captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino,
apparently dithering on the bridge in the moments after the 950ft-long luxury
liner struck rocks close to the island's shore.

  The new video shows the chaos on board as the 4,200 passengers and crew are
told to put on their life jackets and prepare to abandon ship, with at least
one man ending up in the water while passengers shout in alarm as lifeboats get
stuck and fail to deploy properly.
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9077404/Costa-Concordia-new-video-shows-panic-and-disbelief-on-deck.html

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgAZi0av9YQ

Looks like the ship's staff and crew looked untrained for this kind of procedure, as well the Captain.

It also appears the reason why the Captain waited so long to give the abandon ship order was because he thought the ship could hold up

even with two lower compartments flooded.

Two most probable mistakes were,  one getting too close to land where there were low lieng rocks and low depths and then bringing the ship too close

to land after the accident, letting the ship eventually come to rest on a sand bed which caused the ship to lean to one side as it did.

Thats is one moron of a Captain. The question remains was he drunk that night.

He was said to be dining most of night before the accident . 

When your steering a boat of that size close to land at night no-less, you have to be extra careful and usually

pilots will use radar extensively when piloting at night in plotting a course.

The boat's course was OK for a time but it was headed directly for shallow waters and close to land which someone

maybe the Captain wasn't paying cognitive attention to.

The real problem occurs when ships of that size need to adjust its course quickly to divert a problem, they simply cant.

Thats why cruising at night close to land is especially dangerous, particularly where the shoreline has jetting peninsulas in the vicinity.