Cpt. Francesco Schettino of the luxury ship cruiser that ran aground near the coast of Tuscany late Friday said that the ship hit reefs that were not marked on the navigation map, local media reported.
Italian Costa Concordia liner carrying more than 4,200 passengers on board hit a reef and ran aground off the coast of Isola del Giglio island. At least three people were killed and 40 were injured. At the moment 70 people went missing.
Prosecutor's Office of province of Grossetto, Tuscany, initiated a case over ship wreckage causing the death of people. Schettino was questioned soon afterwards he got to the island Giglio. He had to reconstruct the events and explain the decisions and actions that the crew made during the accident. All were interested how the largest cruise ship in Italy got so close to the coast of island Giglio.
At the questioning Captain of Costa Concordia claimed that he had not gone away from the prescribed course. According to information from sources of the Italian investigative agencies, the liner had a large hole in the bottom a few miles from Giglio and then changed the course and directed to the island.
"On our way we came across a rocky ridge which has not been marked (on the map). According to the navigation map it should have been deep enough for our liner to be able to pass there," Schettino said after the questioning to TV Tgcom24.
This Capitan’s version was confirmed by General Director of Costa Crociere, Gianni Onorato “it is inappropriate to say that our vessel had gone away from the prescribed course. There has been an unforeseen accident that got worsen by an unexpected heel of the vessel,” he said.
According to the latest data released by Costa Crociere, at the time of the crash on board of the liner were 3.216 thousand passengers from 62 countries, including 108 Russians.
At present 23 Russian tourists were accommodated in Hilton Hotel near Rome’s airport. Other Russian tourists were accommodated in hotels in Milan and Nice (France), head of the international cooperation department of the Federal Agency for Tourism Valery Korovkin said.
He added that the accommodation of tourists as well as their transportation to the hotels was provided by the company operating this cruise.
Russia’s Consul-General in Marseille Yuri Gribkov told RIA Novosti that the consulate was ready to assist Russians if they appealed to the diplomatic mission.
