Saturday, February 04, 2012
The Moldovan dancer involved in the Costa Concordia disaster has told Italian investigators that she was "in love" with the captain, as it emerged her lingerie was found in his cabin.
Domnica Cemortan, 25, said she was on the bridge moments before the vessel hit rocks.
She was interviewed by prosecutors for nearly six hours in a police station in Grosseto, Tuscany.
Italian press claimed she had fallen for the skipper, even though he had a wife and a teenage daughter.
"I love him and it’s not right to destroy his reputation," Ms Cemortan reportedly told investigators.
She said the captain invited her to the bridge to see the ship perform a "salute" for Giglio island.
The captain misjudged the manoeuvre, sailing to within 150m of the shore and smashing into a rocky shoal. The accident killed 17, with 15 still missing, presumed dead.
Divers found clothing and a beauty case belonging to Ms Cemortan when they searched Francesco Schettino’s cabin.
Passengers saw Ms Cemortan, a former ballerina and cruise-ship dancer, laughing and in "high spirits" with the captain, 52, in the ship’s restaurant just 30 minutes before it ran aground.
Ms Cemortan had just finished a six-month stint as an "international hostess" on the Concordia and was travelling on her own ticket.
The ship’s owner said she had not yet checked into her cabin when the disaster occurred.
Meanwhile, in the chaotic evacuation, those aboard abandoned almost everything, including cash, jewellery, antiques and thousands of art pieces, including 300-year-old woodblock prints by a Japanese master.
Now, a veritable treasure lies beneath the pristine Italian waters and though some objects are bound to disintegrate, it may be just a matter of time before treasure hunters set their sights on the sunken spoils of the Costa Concordia.
"As long as there are bodies in there, it’s considered off base to everybody because it’s a grave," said Robert Marx, a veteran diver and author of several books on maritime history and treasure hunting.
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