The former lover of Francesco
'Captain Coward' Schettino has demanded he tell the truth about
the crucial minutes before the giant Costa Concordia cruise ship
went down killing 32 in Italy's worst postwar maritime disaster.
Moldovan dancer Domnica Cemortan, who was present in the
Concordia command center shortly before it crashed into Giglio
Island and partially capsized, gave Schettino an ultimatum to
tell the whole truth or else, Oggi.it website reported Monday.
"Francesco Schettino I give you six days to tell the truth
about what happened immediately after you gave the command to
abandon ship. Just six days!" Cemortan, who admitted to
investigators that she was having an affair with Schettino at
the time, wrote on her Facebook page.
She threatened to "tell all" unless Schettino "came clean".
The crash took place late on January 13, 2012.
In addition to the 32 people who lost their lives, hundreds
were injured and the disaster caused massive economic damage for
Costa Cruises and the residents of Giglio, which is a popular
tourist destination.
First officer Ciro Ambrosio, who plea-bargained a sentence
of one year and 11 months for multiple manslaughter, testified
late last year that Schettino was "distracted" by a telephone
call and a woman in the moments leading up to the crash.
The captain is on trial for multiple manslaughter and
dereliction of duty, and could face up to 20 years in prison if
he is found guilty.
Dubbed "Captain Coward" by the media for allegedly
abandoning ship without overseeing the evacuation, Schettino
claims his image and actions have been distorted by
investigators and recently called on judges for a new probe.
He is the only person standing criminal trial over
the disaster after State prosecutors last year rejected a plea
bargain offer from him to accept a jail term of three years and
five months.
But they accepted the pleas to suspended sentences of five
other officials, including four ship's officers and the crisis
coordinator of the vessel's owners, Costa Cruises.
Costa agreed to pay a one-million-euro fine to settle
potential criminal charges last April.
Cemortan's ultimatum brought the Concordia disaster back
into the news for the second time in a week.
Last week Gregorio De Falco, the Italian Coast Guard
commander called a "hero" for ordering Schettino to return to
his ship, gained headlines after declaring he was being forcibly
transferred to an administrative desk.
De Falco said that at the end of September, he will be
transferred to a desk job after 10
years on the operational side of the Livorno port authority.
"What happened to me saddens me as the last piece of a
journey that began long ago," De Falco told ANSA, adding his
experience will be wasted in administrative work.
"I'm pretty disappointed," he added.
"I do not understand why they would remove an officer with
my experience from operational roles and send to another
assignment," he said.
De Falco was quoted by Italian dailies as saying "it's a
disgrace that I should be canned when Schettino is on the
university-lecture cirucit," referring to a controversial
one-off gig the disgraced captain got from Rome's La Sapienza
university.
De Falco is famous for ordering Schettino to "get back on
board, dammit" during the rescue operations during disaster.
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