Captain of cruise ship that ran aground off Italy arrested: report

[Cooley Hurd]

http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/14/10156346-captain-of-cruise-ship-that-ran-aground-off-italy-arrested-report

Updated 2:15 p.m. ET

The captain of the 4,200-pasenger luxury cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Tuscany has been arrested, CNN reports, citing a local prosecutor. He is reportedly being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship.

At least three people died in the accident and about 40 people are still unaccounted for, revised downward from 70 earlier in the day.

Updated 1:35 p.m. ET:

Italian authorities were questioning the captain of the 4,200-pasenger luxury cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, CNN reports.

Authorities want to know why the ship didn't issue a mayday call during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, according to the report.


The captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, Francesco Schettino is taken into custody in Grosseto, Italy

Latest Wecam from the scene:

[pinto]

1. Good point on the mayday call, if none was made. Could have saved lives.

Thanks for the update.

[KT2000]

2. 4 miles off course

and boulders imbedded in the hull - what was the captain doing?

good pictures: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2086527/Costa-Concordia-accident-Pictures-cruise-ship-sinking-coast-Italy-Titanic-like-scene.html

[jannyk]

4. I would imagine he was at the 'Captains Table' having dinner.

it's what they always do.

[obamanut2012]

7. I was betting that, too

Irresponsible. Criminally so, it appears.

[cbayer]

5. Sleeping? Drinking? Sharing some time with a passenger?

Whatever he was doing, he is entirely responsible for this. While it wouldn't take that much time to get 4 miles off course, it is simply neglect to have that happen when you are that close to shore.

[Zalatix]

3. Abandoning the ship? Woah. He actually thought he could get away with that?

[obamanut2012]

8. WTF?

I missed that in the article.

[HopeHoops]

9. Reminds me of an old "Far Side" - "I wonder if that's true - the cook always goes down with the ship

Those floating luxury hotels are always a disaster waiting to happen, especially with communicable diseases. Sounds like the "captain" wasn't doing much captaining. Four miles? Four fucking MILES? Hasn't he ever heard of RadioShack? They sell a GPS for less than the cost of a meal on one of those monstrosities.

[obamanut2012]

6. Good, he should be

A Captain is completely responsible for something like this, especially since there was no Mayday, lifeboats weren't lowered for -- what -- an hour? And, passengers hadn't even had a lifeboat drill yet.

Unless there is some really compelling backstory, he should spend a long time in prison for this.

[Cooley Hurd]

11. He should be arrested for sporting a mullet in 2012

[obamanut2012]

12. At least get hard labor added to any sentence

[justiceischeap]

10. Never been on a cruise ship but

it doesn't make sense to me that it was that close to the coast unless it was getting ready to dock.

[hunter]

13. Reminiscent of cruise ship Oceanos off South Africa, August 1991

The ship's officers and crew quietly packed their bags and abandoned ship, leaving it up to the ship's recreation leaders and entertainment staff to supervise the evacuation of everyone else.

Realizing the fate of the ship, the crew fled in panic, neglecting to close the lower deck portholes, which is standard policy during emergency procedures. No alarm was raised. Passengers remained ignorant of the events taking place until they themselves witnessed the first signs of flooding in the lower decks. At this stage, eyewitness accounts reveal that many of the crew, including Captain Avranas, were already packed and ready to depart, seemingly unconcerned with the safety of the passengers...

Avranas stated, "When I give the order abandon ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. Abandon is for everybody. If some people want to stay, they can stay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTS_Oceanos

True, the dirtbag owners of these ships are often quick to blame their employees, but it goes both ways. Irresponsible owners are likely to hire irresponsible executive officers. Anyone with a shred of self-respect wouldn't want the job.