Crew told of panic in flooding engine room
The court in Grosseto has heard on Nov 12 how panicking crew in the rapidly flooding engine room of the "Costa Concordia" tried repeatedly to convey to captain Schettino how crippled the ship was after it collided with a reef off Giglio.
The phone call between engine room crew and Francesco Schettino up on the bridge was played aloud at his trial in Tuscany. The call from an engine room official was logged at 10:09 p.m. which was almost 25 minutes after the crash.
Schettino was heard saying "OK" a couple of times, but appeared not to immediately grasp that the allision and resulting rushing in of sea water had knocked the ship's engines out of commission.
"But where did we hit?" Schettino asked the chief Giuseppe Pillon who replied that the collision ripped open a side of the hull, and said "all is lost," referring to the generators. Pillon also told Schettino that the main circuit breaker panel was full of water.
Engine room official Hugo Di Piazza, who testified on Nov 12, described how the water rushed into the part of the ship below the waterline, including through a supposedly water-tight compartment. Asked by the court if there was panic in the engine room, Di Piazza said: "When you have water at your feet that means ... that you are risking your life." He testified the "water was arriving in waves" and that the first emergency exit he tried to use didn't open so he had to find another way upstairs.
"We stayed in the engine room, waiting for the signal to abandon ship." That signal arrived approximately 30 minutes after he realized the lower part of the ship was flooding. Although Schettino appeared in the recording not to have immediately grasped how crippled the engine and electrical capabilities were, testimony on Nov 11 indicated he was immediately aware after the ship shuddered with a jolt after hitting the reef that he had a grave problem on his hands.
An officer-in-training on the bridge during the collision, Stefano Iannelli testified that Schettino exclaimed: "What did I do? I'm finished navigating" as a captain. Schettino had claimed that the reef wasn't on the ship's nautical charts and that he left the ship while others were still aboard so he could better direct the evacuation while on the island.
The court in Grosseto has heard on Nov 12 how panicking crew in the rapidly flooding engine room of the "Costa Concordia" tried repeatedly to convey to captain Schettino how crippled the ship was after it collided with a reef off Giglio.
The phone call between engine room crew and Francesco Schettino up on the bridge was played aloud at his trial in Tuscany. The call from an engine room official was logged at 10:09 p.m. which was almost 25 minutes after the crash.
Schettino was heard saying "OK" a couple of times, but appeared not to immediately grasp that the allision and resulting rushing in of sea water had knocked the ship's engines out of commission.
"But where did we hit?" Schettino asked the chief Giuseppe Pillon who replied that the collision ripped open a side of the hull, and said "all is lost," referring to the generators. Pillon also told Schettino that the main circuit breaker panel was full of water.
Engine room official Hugo Di Piazza, who testified on Nov 12, described how the water rushed into the part of the ship below the waterline, including through a supposedly water-tight compartment. Asked by the court if there was panic in the engine room, Di Piazza said: "When you have water at your feet that means ... that you are risking your life." He testified the "water was arriving in waves" and that the first emergency exit he tried to use didn't open so he had to find another way upstairs.
"We stayed in the engine room, waiting for the signal to abandon ship." That signal arrived approximately 30 minutes after he realized the lower part of the ship was flooding. Although Schettino appeared in the recording not to have immediately grasped how crippled the engine and electrical capabilities were, testimony on Nov 11 indicated he was immediately aware after the ship shuddered with a jolt after hitting the reef that he had a grave problem on his hands.
An officer-in-training on the bridge during the collision, Stefano Iannelli testified that Schettino exclaimed: "What did I do? I'm finished navigating" as a captain. Schettino had claimed that the reef wasn't on the ship's nautical charts and that he left the ship while others were still aboard so he could better direct the evacuation while on the island.