Stricken Italian cruise ship could sink

GIGLIO, Italy, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Divers were ordered to suspend search efforts aboard the crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship because the vessel is at risk of sinking, Italian officials said.

Environment Minister Corrado Clini said there is a danger the vessel could sink completely because the seafloor drops sharply near the spot where the vessel went on the rocks Friday off Giglio, a small island about 15 miles from the Tuscan coast, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday.

Speaking in Parliament, Clini said the fuel carried by the vessel could create an environmental catastrophe. "To clear the 2,400 tons of fuel in the tanks we need at least two weeks." he said.

The Concordia was carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew. Eleven had been confirmed dead Wednesday and 22 were still missing.

Fillipo Marini, an Italian coast guard spokesman, said sensors aboard the vessel recorded a slight movement, forcing divers to suspend plans to blast five more holes in the hull to provide new paths to search the vessel, The New York Times reported. Simultaneously, salvage crews waited to start pumping the fuel from the submerged tanks.

Rescue and salvage teams also were watching weather reports that forecast high winds for Thursday.

The $450 million, 114,500-ton cruise ship hit a reef around 9:40 p.m. Friday, ripping a 160-foot gash in the hull and causing the 952-foot-long ship to list violently to starboard and then capsize shortly after a late-seating dinner had begun.

Prosecutors and the cruise line that owns the ship have blamed Capt. Francesco Schettino, 52, of Naples, for the wreck, saying he deviated from the computer-plotted course. Schettino has said that he hit an uncharted rock.

On Tuesday a judge released Schettino from police custody but placed him under house arrest. Prosecutors are expected to file criminal charges, including manslaughter and abandoning ship, in the coming days.

Also Tuesday, transcripts of exchanges between Schettino and the coast guard ashore were released, with the captain assuring the coast guard that the wrecked, listing cruise ship had only a "small technical failure," records indicate.

When Schettino later said he had left the ship before all 3,216 passengers and about 1,000 crew members were accounted for, he was ordered back from a lifeboat, transcripts of radio and phone conversations indicated.

"Everything OK?" the coast guard asked in an early radio exchange.

"Affirmative -- just a small technical failure," Schettino said.

Reached later by radio, Schettino repeated, "We've only got a technical problem, but as soon as it's resolved, we'll communicate to you."

He didn't radio back, Italian newspapers Il Fatto Quotidiano and Corriere della Sera reported.

The coast guard eventually reached Schettino by telephone aboard a lifeboat alongside the stricken liner.

He told them he had abandoned the ship, then immediately denied it.

"I'm not on board because the bows of the ship are coming up. We've abandoned her," he told coast guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco.

"What do you mean? You've abandoned ship?" De Falco asked.

"No. No way have I abandoned ship," Schettino said. "I'm here."

Another version quoted Schettino as saying: "I didn't abandon any ship. It's that the ship disbanded and we were catapulted into the water."

At one point, Schettino asked De Falco how many people were dead.

"I don't know," De Falco said. "One I am aware of. One I've heard of. You need to be telling me this. Christ!"

The conversation, translated by the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, continued:

Schettino: "But you are aware it is dark and we can't see anything?"

De Falco: "And what do you want? To go back home, Schettino? It's dark and you want to go back home? Get on the bow of the ship and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what do they need. Now!"

Schettino: "I am here with the second commander."

De Falco: "Excuse me?"

Schettino: "I am here with the second commander. His name is ..."

De Falco: "So both of you, get on board, both of you. What is the name of the second?"

Schettino: "Dimitry."

De Falco: "Dimitry who?"

Schettino: "Dimitry [unintelligible]."

De Falco: "You and your second commander, go and get on board now. Is that clear?"

Schettino: "Captain, I want to get on board the ship but the other life boat has stopped its engine and it is drifting and I called other rescuers."

De Falco: "It's already one hour you are telling me this. Now, you go aboard. It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared abandon ship. Now I am in charge. You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me? Go!"

The coast guard confirmed the recordings' authenticity.