Interview with Francesco Schettino on Italian television. Here’s the roughly translated transcript. Cable is the interviewer.
CABLE: Commander she decided to talk a few days after the end of her house arrest, why?
Schettino: Because the first thing I want to put my face, because I think it my duty to explain the events as they went because this story is detailed and complex in my point of view, each has its truth, it is not the absolute truth, but I think it’s my duty as a bit 'all over the world has been directly or indirectly involved in this affair, I think it’s my duty to do this even though I would not have so much to speak, sincerely I do as a moral duty towards the public , my intention is not to change his mind to the public, because everyone has their own idea to respect and maintain, not sincerely wish anyone to be able to live a crossroads, a drama like that.
CABLE: Retrace chronologically that day, because she asked to be advised to go on the bridge on arrival near the lily?
Schettino: If the waiter asks me the master pass from them … is normal to say look I’m well, we play three whistles greeting the island is the commander Present were normal.
CABLE:
There was also Cemortan?
Schettino: The young lady was waiting outside the tent where he is free and waiting for the cab, the key that would then provide …
CABLE: Why was there? Why was there on the bridge, albeit behind?
Schettino: Because she was my friend and the chief commissioner, a person who wanted to take a cruise with her friends on board, wanted to buy a ticket to Russia, said that the Russian agencies had failed to find a place on the ship and therefore helped find a regular cab and a regular ticket.
CABLE: There was much gossip about this situation and have described it as more of a friend
Schettino: It ‘s normal that there was gossip … It’ s definitely a sociable person, friendly and a po’amica of all, it should not necessarily be more
CABLE: But that evening he was at dinner with her Cermotan?
Schettino: It 's been to dinner with me, was also the Chief Inspector together because in the end I repeat there are people that are worth a laugh … nient 'other …
CABLE: It is said that the maneuver, then greet the Giglio was made to demonstrate a maneuver even in the eyes of this girl his skills ability to bring that big ship near the Lily
Schettino: Apart from the fact that it was night, and so there was nothing to see, thank goodness, then the short message on fb found that the bow had been made to mettre
CABLE: Let’s as close as possible. Is what she said to the cartographer Canessa, as the officer says Koronika
Schettino: I did not want to challenge anyone, we planned a sailing and just half a mile, then better half was an acceptable distance for me to say hi, otherwise it would not even seen, I’m not even feel blessed greeting.
Is there a difference between a bow and a step, that was a close passage to the island, because if we bow usually decreases the speed, you go up close, you choose the right cards to make the ’ bow at a distance from the earth, if it had been planned a real bow, it would not happen perfectly at all.
CABLE: But she feels compelled to apologize to someone?
Schettino: But surely I can not be happy about what has happened, my condolences, my most sincere affection goes to the people that unfortunately there are no more.
The economic damage is definitely there, the damages are for loss, for people who have been affected in their affections and the final analysis for the company and the ship’s captain who was later a victim of this system, this thing that has happened is that indescribable feeling, is much less of 'affection of a mother who loses a baby certainly is immeasurable
But the loss of the ship for a commander is something … there is a meter of pain.
CABLE: She says my grief … grief does not amount to an apology, I asked her if she thinks they have to apologize?
Schettino: Certainly, because I never thought such a thing could happen, goes beyond any intention to do something.
The accident not only the ship is identified, the company commander is identified and then it is normal that I should apologize, so it is normal that I should apologize, just as representative of this system at all.
CABLE: She spoke of a mother and a daughter, as she took the news of the death of small Daiana Arlotti?
Schettino: I would prefer to avoid talking about … because it already makes me sick
CABLE: But I have to ask him commander
Schettino: This is a question that tears me down, it’s terrible.
CABLE: Why?
Schettino: Never mind the …
CABLE: But then she goes away from the ship, this ship leaves?
Schettino: Until now in this matter there has skied in, has done so much entertainment at the expense of information, I believe that she, that I had estimated from the beginning, has the ability to analyze things and then does not stop at surface, at what was left believing and then eventually had this great echo, the commander who is abandoned ship.
I am descended from the ship deck 8 was clearly tilting, I have basically seen the spear that was in the boarding gate where I made a choice, already I could not stay on the ship because the wood was now creating a slippery slope because 50 -55 degrees, I was pretty encouraged to go on the boat, do not know if I slipped or fell, whether the ship has moved, I did not think you would be given all this weight on the slide, the commander walks and stumbles upon a lifeboat. I’m just nastiness.
CABLE: But if there has to say today what happened, he slipped, fell went up to there, wanted to go there … What is truth?
Schettino: I do not have it I stumbled fell, I missed the ground beneath your feet, like an earthquake, falls on the floor and what do you do? Falls with the floor …
CABLE: But however she arrives on the rock, do you feel when you get on that rock? Why watch the rock the sinking ship, they say this.
Schettino: I wanted to hold her hands, honestly, but I was not possible, the only thing I did, I took the phone and I called immediately for help
CABLE:
The point is that we are the master of his officers who were thrown into the water and others who have tried to pick up passengers who were in the water between the ship and the rock, she has been tempted to ributtarsi in water to give a hand passengers?
Schettino: What I saw was that there were already 5 or 6 who came to the rock, that I have not seen people who were drowning in the water honestly.
CABLE: When the commander understands that there are victims?
Schettino: It seems to me, the commander of the Harbour, De Falco, I said there are already victims, but I do not know if it was an exact figure if there really were any casualties, the first that I 's said it was him.
I always hoped it was not true, could also be a person who had fainted, which then would recover.
CABLE: She is asked at one point to reboard the ship, De Falco does a very popular phone that has been around the world because she does not climb on board and tried to feel what that phone call?
Schettino: Listen to that phone call I did not affect me because I put in the role of 'interlocutor, usually when you run for help from a distance, you have to have the person’s attention at that time is your eyes and understand the scenario where the fact is taking place. I as a commander, I never gave an order that can not be executed, that he drew a duty without understanding that it could not be done.
The speech is that he had not considered that the ship was sunk on the starboard side, I had to do a 300m swim, jump into water that is making the rounds of the bow, see biscaggina, her cell phone to be preserved, because in the meantime I had to talk to the unit of crisis, I did something much more serious
CABLE: That is, she says, it was better to stay on the rocks because at least I had the phone and I could talk.
Schettino: I end up I called the helicopters, I kept informed of everything.
CABLE: The fact that there are latri officers who landed at 5 am and 40 am
Schettino: That was also a condition for protection, in what sense? If I had wanted to protect myself, I would put on the left side of the ship not sure he was sinking, and then I was there.
CABLE: But if she had stayed there at the end of today is not the coward who feels that you are all over Italy.
Schettino: The coward who is in a dangerous situation, try to take advantage.
If I had known that that phone call had been made public, and certainly the tone of the conversation would be different.
I would just let the prevailing meaning, hanging up the phone and throw it into the water, I did not understand what game we’re playing … and we almost did and what I’m lucky not to have done, because I would have given way to the whole My napoletaneità and I would understand a little bit who was that captain: Francesco Schettino.
Schettino: Before you get going straight to the whole, 15 nodes, one must have the perception of a hazard, because until that moment neither of us found we had detected the danger, of course there had to come south because it was not planned and as you could make a bow, not needed at 50 meters, 100 meters.
CABLE: If she had not given the right turn, when she says “I put a divine hand on the head,” what would happen?
The divine hand is just to say there was an obstruction, the flair, the observation of seeing, being careful, I did something to make a guess that it was important, because I saw this white froth. So much so that even the officers describe that I leave my position, which was pretty near the helm, and I approach, in quotes, into the glass of the bridge to try to get a better view. Eventually I managed to avoid a frontal impact.
CABLE: Listen, do me a drawing of what may have happened on this route?
Here there is the pitfall, here there is the other outer. The ship was to do so …
The limit of this rock here was to be here this distance is 0.5 (drawing 0.5). There is a cost that does so (draw a semicircle). Instead of doing this route here, made here by this time he did so (draw another semicircle at the top).
CABLE: Because it is past this point and has gone further?
Why is approached in late, was approached in late, we did this route in the meantime here I was talking on the phone with the commander
CABLE: But according to the prosecutor that she makes the call with Palombo is a moment of distraction.
In that moment I went up on deck, I ordered the manual browsing and I did not have command, the
direction of navigation was the officer.
This is a trivial incident in which a fatality has found its own breach of interacting human beings. I think it was created, base, a misunderstanding and that is why there is anger.
It is as if all heads, including the tools, they would go to black-out.
However, we reach a point where you have to have the ability to utter words and then say “What are we doing?” I do blame being distracted and that this distance should be reported as a routine, because anyone watching the radar a situation of excessive closeness must necessarily do this.
Give a general alarm after a crash without understanding the extent of damage is insane, we must first understand what happened.
CABLE: His problem was to understand the level of flooding, could not understand?
No, I could not understand, or at least to be sure it was that.
A light heart you can not put passengers at sea 4000.
In that moment I decided to act that way, because I really thought that the blow had not affected the sectors that has affected.
CABLE: She does not regret being late 45 minutes to give the general alarm?
No, I do not regret this in the strongest terms, I repeat firmly, that decision was right. Because I to evacuate the ship would have had to stop. It’s stupid to stop a favorable event that was occurring and that the ship was going to drift toward the ground, then there would be imprudent to stop the vessel to put to sea in the boats, at a depth of 100 meters where the ship would then surely sunk. If capsized there unfortunately I do not know how many victims there were, surely we stand at a depth lower than did less victims.
CABLE: She speaks initially especially with the crisis unit of Costa Cruises. It immediately says “I screwed up.” As if he realized the gravity of the situation.
But you already have a passenger ship after a collision that has flooded the engine run, it’s a mess, which no longer can.
CABLE: Ferrarini or at least the crisis unit of the Coast does not say, in the first communications, to slow the general alarm and abandon ship?
No, in the strongest terms.
CABLE: Why do you say to the harbor master, in the first statement, you had only a black-out and not spoken of impact with the rock?
We were evaluating the condition of the ship.
CABLE: When there was this communication, the commander, you already know that he had a gash in the ship, because he has already communicated to others, for example, Ferrarini.
At first there was the communication black-out because in the meantime I wanted to take a tug, then I finally called. A tug boat to tow us, because it would not make sense to call a tug on a sinking ship. I did not want to create a question of bouncing between the earth and the ship, and start saying “We took a rock, we’re going down” and people would be thrown into the water. That was a way to protect people, before and up to the moment when I thought there would be conditions for which the ship is not sinking.
My doubts began to arise when Iaccarino starts saying “Is overflowing water from the deck 0”.
Maybe if I had known sooner that information there would be more important to her.
CABLE: That is, if she had known “water bridge 0” what would he do?
I would have automatically been evacuated.
CABLE: But she controlled it was realized that the panic had already broken out on board at that time?
In fact, the general alarm signal serves to gather the passengers. In fact most of the work they had already done, by when. So much so that when we gave the general emergency, after about 20 minutes, was given to abandon ship, the boats were filled and everyone was already there.
Then the ship began to lean quickly you had to give strength to abandon ship. So the problem was not alerted, was calm.
That there is a perfect wreck, imagine that this ship going down to parallel bridges, there’s been quite a reversal, and unfortunately in this phase reversal was accelerated times, surely if we had to have 5 more minutes, 10 minutes longer, there would be no victims.
CABLE: In that sense, the ship ribaltasse mintuti after 10?
Yes, eventually there were 50 people, more or less as it was estimated, so just think that if they put in a lifeboat 150, then?
CABLE: I read some statements that have released their official report.
Pellegrini Martino, the head of security “state of mind of the commander seemed altered, going to get worse, his voice trembled”
Iaccarino “He was in shock.”
This was their level of perception. What surprises me is these statements that were contrary to what was the truth, then emerged from the black box.
http://www.tv.mediaset.it/quimediaset/comunicati/comunicato_4849.shtml