(Italian crashed ship) Costa Concordia: captain drank alcohol with 'beautiful' woman prior to crash
The 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 –who is married with a child – 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 described Schettino as a "show-off", and said he, the woman and another officer left the restaurant around 9.05pm. At about 9.45pm, he was back on the bridge, where he steered the ship into rocks while attempting to "salute" a former captain on 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.
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/19/costa-concordia-woman-seen-captain
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