Post date: Jan 26, 2012 12:54:9 PM
In an interview with Italian weekly magazine, Oggi, the wife of Costa Concordia's captain has said he is not a monster and that he is being treated unfairly. Work by salvage teams on the island of Giglio is continuing with a possibility fuel will begin to be pumped out of the ship on Friday.
GIGLIO, ITALY (JANUARY 26, 2012) (REUTERS) - Salvage teams moved closer to starting the job of pumping fuel from the stricken Costa Concordia on Thursday (January 26) nearly two weeks after the tragic shipwreck left at least 16 dead and around twenty people still unaccounted for.
Captain Francesco Schettino is under house arrest and is blamed for causing the accident by steering too close to shore. He is accused of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship before the evacuation of more than 4,200 passengers and crew was complete.
In an interview with Italian magazine Oggi, Schettino's wife, Fabiola Russo, said that her husband was no monster and he is being mistreated by all sides.
Admiral Marco Brusco, speaking at a Senate hearing in Rome on Thursday said that he felt Schettino had wasted an hour in giving the alarm to evacuate the ship and the ensuing evacuation was made more difficult because of this.
"This is one of the largest events in maritime history due to the amount of people involved," Admiral Marco Brusco told the senate commission.
"More than 4,000 people were saved, between the passengers and the crew. The rescue operation was immense from all the organisations," he said.
Italian coastguard and firebrigade divers were preparing equipment on the island of Giglio as salvage teams from the Dutch Smit company said they may be able to start pumping fuel out from the ship earlier than expected.
Salvage divers from Smit were seen inflating oil barricades on the quay which will be used to try and stop any spillage during the operation.