Anxious relatives are holding on to faint hopes rescue workers will find more survivors from a cruise ship that ran aground off the northwest Italian coast.
Officials suspended their search of the Costa Concordia Wednesday after the cruise ship started shifting.
The stricken ship hit rocks that tore a 52 meter gash in the hull, causing it to flip on its side.
Official say at least 11 people were killed and 21 are still missing as a result of Friday's accident.
Divers say conditions are difficult and dangerous inside the partially submerged 114,000 ton ship, and Italian officials say additional searches could be affected by changing weather conditions. The weather is also sparking concern about a possible environmental disaster.
Italian Environment Minister Corrado Clini said Wednesday if the 2,400 tonnes of fuel begins to leak it could cause terrible damage. He said efforts to start pumping out the fuel could start once the search for survivors ends, provided weather conditions are stable.
Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors say they want the captain of the Costa Concordia back in jail.
Francesco Schettino is under house arrest, facing charges for manslaughter and abandoning ship before all the passengers were rescued.
But prosecutor Francesco Verusio said Wednesday officials wanted to “avoid the situation where Schettino could escape from his responsibilities.”
Schettino's lawyer defended the captain during a news conference Wednesday, saying his client “never left the scene.” Bruno Leporatti also said contrary to stories in the Italian media, Schettino was “deeply shaken” by the accident.
Relatives of the missing have been gathering in Porto Santo Stefano hoping to hear their loved ones have been found, but many are growing impatient.
Madeleine Soria Molina's sister was a crew member on the Costa Concordia. She told reporters, “I'm here to find my sister. I should do everything to find her.” She also said time was running out.
A relative of another missing crew member said he is confident the ship's captain will face justice, but that the charges are of little concern to him. Kevin Rebello says the main priority for the families is “to look for their family members and to find them and see that they take them home safely.”
An audio recording released Tuesday of an angry exchange between the Italian Coast Guard and the captain of the capsized ship reveals that the captain refused orders to get back on his stricken vessel.
Coast Guard Captain Gregory De Falco demanded that Captain Schettino use a ladder to climb back onto the damaged Costa Concordia and report how many people were still on board.
But Schettino responded that he was not going anywhere, complaining that it was too dark on the ship. He said he was coordinating the rescue from a lifeboat. A furious Captain De Falco bellowed that he was now in charge and he ordered Schettino back on the vessel — warning him that he was “going to pay” for his actions.
The owners say he steered too close to shore and made decisions during the emergency that did not follow company procedures, which they said are based on international standards.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said, “any such disaster could and should be avoided.”
Officials say that when the ship hit the rocks, passengers were ordered to put on life jackets and to board life rafts. However, passengers say the ship tilted so sharply and quickly that many lifeboats could not be lowered into the water.
The $450 million Costa Concordia cruise ship was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it ran aground.
The accident has prompted a U.S. congressional committee to plan a hearing on training and safety practices of cruise ships.
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1. (English) Corrado Clini, Italian Environment Minister:
“If the meteo-climatic conditions will be stable we need more or less 10 days. If meteo-climatic conditions will change I can not say how we may work, because it depends on the position of the boat. Now we are working in order to plan the start of the operations in the next 12 hours and to continue to work in 10 days – two weeks.”
2. (English) Corrado Clini, Italian Environment Minister:
“You can imagine. I believe that it depends on the quantity of fuel. If we will be able to contain the losses maybe we could also reduce the risks for the environment, but if we consider 2,400 tonnes of fuel, the damages could be terrible.”
3. (English) Corrado Clini, Italian Environment Minister:
“Yes, we will declare the state of emergency next Friday, in order to be able to manage in an effective way all the operations we need to activate.”
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SEE SCRIPT FOR RESTRICTIONS
1, (Italian) Francesco Verusio, Italian Prosecutor:
“We don't agree and we don't understand the reason why the preliminary hearing judge has ruled this decision (Schettino's house arrest). We are evaluating with our colleagues if there's a case for an appeal, to ask the judge for a different decision.”
2. (Italian) Francesco Verusio, Italian Prosecutor:
(Question: What moves you to ask for precautionary custody in jail?)
“Schettino's personality, the kind of crimes he's been charged with, which carry heavy penalties, and we would like to avoid the situation where Schettino could escape from his responsibilities. Given the behavior he had onboard, that doesn't give us a positive outlook.”
(Q: Could he flee from house arrest?)
“It's possible.”
3. Italian Coast Guard Captain Gregorio De Falco surrounded by media as he enters prosecutor's office, UPSOUND (Italian):
Reporter: “Do you know that you are the national hero at the moment?”
De Falco: “No I am not a hero”.
4. (Italian) Bruno Leporatti, Schettino's lawyer:
“The need for preliminary custody never existed. The custody is aimed at avoiding an escape, but in this case this risk never existed.”
5. (Italian) Bruno Leporatti, Schettino's lawyer:
“They did not find him hidden among the passengers, although he was on a rock by the sea, he has always been in front of his ship, keeping on giving information and answering the questions on the phone.”
6. (Italian) Bruno Leporatti, Schettino's lawyer:
“It is up to the judge of the potential trial, not up to the preliminary hearing judge, to rule if the commander Schettino is responsible or not for what happened.”
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The Italian navy has released underwater video, filmed on Tuesday….
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1. (Italian) PROSECUTOR, FRANCESCO VERUSIO, SAYING:
“We are taking the judge's decision back to court to be
re-examined and they will re-examine it and either agree
with our view or go with the judge's decision (to keep
Schettino under house arrest).''
2. . (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN ENVIRONMENT MINISTER, CORRADO CLINI, SAYING:
“A change in the weather conditions could determine the
movement of the ship and the depth of its slippage further
foreseeing
what the damage caused by the ship or consequently the
damages to the environment could be. This also gives a
further sense of urgency to the operations.''
3. (Italian) ITALIAN ENVIRONMENT MINISTER, CORRADO CLINI, SAYING:
“Another factor limiting the prevention and containment
work is the continuation of the search operation which is
still on-going and still needs to be completed in order to
find survivors. It is evident it is not possible to begin
emptying the fuel tanks until this operation has
concluded.''
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ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER MARIO MONTI (ENGLISH):
“Obviously any such disaster could and should be avoided. I cannot run ahead of what will be the conclusion of the multiple and meticulous inquiries that are being conducted by the pertinent authorities. I can attest of the extremely generous cooperation that was given by the population of the localities, of the localities near the accident. And, by the way, I was very grateful to the prime minister for his expressions of solidarity in relation to this incident. And everybody can be assured that the Italian authorities are both taking care of the prevention and limitation of any environmental negative implications of this accident as well as obviously in the first place providing all the necessary help to those affected.”
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SOUNDBITES:
1. (Italian) Antonino Bileddo, diver and speleologist from the National Alpine Speleology Corps:
“We went down to deck three, and we were able to enter at water level, because in that area it's not possible to see anything. You can't see your own hands. So we are proceeding blind. There's a lot of floating stuff, such as sofas and other objects – it's really dangerous.”
2. (Italian) Roberto Carminucci, diver and speleologist from the National Alpine Speleology Corps:
“For a ship like this, which has laid itself on the seabed for just a few days, the real problem is the lack of stability.”
3. (Italian) Name not given, member of the Crisis Unit's Data Analysis team: ++Soundbite ends mid-sentence when firefighter pulls diver away from interview++
“What happened is that after a series of data collected about the ship, this morning we assessed a rotation that was more accentuated, obviously…”
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SOUNDBITES:
1. (Spanish) Madeleine Soria Molina, sister of missing crew member:
“I'm here to find my sister. I should do everything to find her. I'm trying to know how many people are working on the rescue operation, how they are working and how many hours.”
2. (Spanish) Madeleine Soria Molina, sister of missing crew member:
“We lament the slowness of the search operations. Five days have passed and my sister has not been found. I feel very bad waiting. I feel desperate because time is running out and we have not found anything.”
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SOUNDBITES:
1. (English) KEVIN REBELLO, RELATIVE OF MISSING INDIAN NATIONAL, RUSSEL REBELLO, WHO WAS A CREW MEMBER OF THE CRUISE SHIP COSTA CONCORDIA, SAYING:
“My brother had been appointed as well in case of an
emergency to help people with lifecraft and help other
passengers. He was last seen along with other four crew
members, two Italians and one guy from the Philippines, to
lower a lifecraft into the sea, that was towards the end of
the ship, towards the upper deck, and when the ship was
moving, it was like tilting again further. The lifecraft
floated away because they couldn't control it any more and
the Filipino guy, what I heard, jumped into the sea but he
has been saved, he is already on his way home now, but they
did not find my brother because he was the last person seen
at that moment and it could have been that he must have
fallen off, injured, (Indistinct) somewhere, so I hope that
he is safe somewhere. So, you know, everyone would be happy
to know of his safe return.''
2. (English) KEVIN REBELLO, RELATIVE OF MISSING INDIAN NATIONAL, RUSSEL REBELLO, WHO WAS A CREW MEMBER OF THE CRUISE SHIP COSTA CONCORDIA, SAYING:
“I hope I find some more information. I know the rescue
teams are doing their jobs, they are doing a good job
since the last 48 hours, they are working 24 hours, they
are trying to do their best, and I just pray for them, I
just hope that they are safe as well, and they they find
this … the reason that they are there is to help the
other people as well. I pray for everyone – 28, 29 missing
people who have been reported for – four crew members and
24, 25 passengers and I hope they are all safe somewhere on
the island, somewhere around.''
3. (English) KEVIN REBELLO, RELATIVE OF MISSING INDIAN NATIONAL, RUSSEL REBELLO, WHO WAS A CREW MEMBER OF THE CRUISE SHIP COSTA CONCORDIA, SAYING:
“He has done what he has done. He will pay for his
wrongdoings, he will pay for his wrong decision. That is
for the government of Italy and the commission to look for
what they will do about him. That is not important for me
at all at the moment. My main objective, my main priority
as well as the priority of all the other 28, 29 families is
to look for their near and dear ones, is to look for their
family members and to find them and see that they take them
home safely because the most important thing is that I am
not that much concerned about what the commander-in-chief Mr
Setino, whatever he says.''
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