The cruise ship captain who steered his 114,000-tonne vessel into rocks off the Italian coast last Friday was drinking wine at dinner with a "beautiful" woman minutes earlier, a witness has claimed.
Francesco Schettino, who is under house arrest accused of manslaughter and abandoning ship after he grounded the Costa Concordia on the island of Giglio following the collision, has told investigators that he had not drunk alcohol that night. But a passenger, Angelo Fabbri, has revealed that he and his wife watched Schettino enjoy a gourmet meal with red wine at the ship's most exclusive restaurant.
"Schettino, in a dark uniform, was sat in front of a young woman," Fabbri told newspaper Il Secolo XIX. "She appeared young, initially we thought she could even be his daughter. A beautiful woman, slim, shoulder-length blonde hair, a black dress with bare arms. They were laughing, they were informal, it was very merry," he said.
"The wine?" he added. "There is no doubt they drank, at least a whole decanter, the last drops were poured into the commander's glass."
Fabbri, who described Schettino as a "show-off", said the captain, the woman and another officer left the restaurant around 9.05pm. At around 9.45pm Schettino was back on the bridge, where he steered the ship into rocks while attempting to "salute" a former captain who was a native of Giglio.
Italian media reported on Thursday that investigators are trying to interview Domnica Cermontan, 25, a Moldovan employee of Costa Crociere, the cruise ship's owner. A spokesman for Costa Crociere said the company was "ready to provide authorities" with information about "the woman who on the evening of the incident appears to have dined with Captain Schettino".
In an interview with Romanian newspaper Adevarul, Cermontan said she left the bridge at 11.50pm, at which time Schettino was still there.
Cermontan also told a Romanian TV station she believed Schettino saved the lives of passengers by grounding the vessel. "He has done something extraordinary," she said. Prosecutors believe that Schettino delayed telling the coast guard the ship was holed and then left the vessel while 300 passengers were still on board.
The bodies of 11 passengers and crew have been found by rescuers and 21 passengers remain unaccounted for.
According to audio tapes released on Thursday a crew member on board the ship told coast guard officials 30 minutes after the collision that the Costa Concordia had suffered a mere black out and that there was no emergency on board.
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