Tape shows cruise captain had fled

The captain of the crippled Italian cruise ship’s decision to flee as it was sinking and refusal to return and control the chaotic situation has been exposed in an audio tape.

Captain Francesco Schettino was heard making excuses as an Italian coast guard officer repeatedly told him to take charge of the passenger evacuation.

Prosecutors have accused Schettino of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship before all passengers were evacuated for the grounding of the Costa Concordia on Friday night.

The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 people when it hit a reef off the Tuscan island of Giglio when Schettino made an unauthorized deviation from the cruise ship’s programmed course.

Schettino has insisted he stayed aboard until the ship was evacuated, but the recording of his conversation with Italian Coast Guard Captain Gregorio De Falco indicates he fled before all passengers were off – and then resisted Captain De Falco’s repeated orders to return.

“You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear?” Captain De Falco shouted in the audio tape.

Schettino resisted, saying the ship was tipping and that it was dark. At the time, he was in a lifeboat and said he was co-ordinating the rescue from there.

Captain De Falco shouted back: “And so what? You want go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!”

“You go aboard. It is an order. Don’t make any more excuses. You have declared the abandoning of the ship, now I am in charge,” Captain De Falco shouted.

Schettino was finally heard agreeing to reboard. It is unclear whether he did.

Another five bodies were located today, raising the confirmed death toll to 11. Before the latest find, 29 people had been unaccounted for.