Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Italy last week, is not a well-liked man. According to Reuters, Italian newspapers "have branded Schettino a coward for fleeing in the face of adversity."

But Domnica Cemortan, a 25-year-old dancer whom the Telegraph reports used to work on the Costa Concordia, says she was with the captain as he ordered people to get into lifeboats.

In an interview available below, posted by the Telegraph, Cemortan says that, despite earlier media reports, the captain was not one of the first people to leave the ship.

"I've heard through Russian media that the captain was the first or one of the first to leave, but that's not true," she said in the interview. "As a witness, I can say that I left the deck at [11:50 p.m.] following an order from the captain himself who told me to go to the third deck and get into a lifeboat that could take more people."

Domnica says that she was on the bridge because she could speak five languages and she was next to the captain, on the bridge, alongside 20 officers. Cemortan said that everyone was looking at the orders of the captain.