A former Costa Cruises employee is disappointed by the Concordia’s captain, considering how prepared the crew were and how serious the company is, judging by his own experience.
He spoke as newspaper reports circulated that rich Russians stuffed wads of cash into the pockets of Concordia crew members to bribe them for coveted places on the lifeboats.
And now Italian investigators are looking into eyewitness accounts that ‘expensively dressed Eastern Europeans’ paid off staff as the disabled were left to fend for themselves.
Gozitan Mark Attard, 32, worked for Costa Cruises as a chef between 2003 and 2006 and he recalls the birth of the majestic Concordia, which now lies half submerged in its shallow grave off the Tuscan coast after it hit a reef on Friday, the 13th.
“The company looks after its employees so well, let alone its passengers,” he said, recounting an episode when he was slightly injured in Brazil.
He was immediately sent by ambulance to a private clinic for an MRI and flown to Malta accompanied by a nurse.
“Costa Cruises decided I should not go back to work and I was not even allowed to pack my belongings myself,” he said.
Mr Attard, who has since returned to his studies, stressed the company’s strictness in terms of security and is convinced everyone knew what to do in an emergency – from the officers down to the cleaners.
Like all passenger ships, strict evacuation procedures exist and their format is governed by international maritime regulations.
“You cannot embark without basic safety training,”he said. “It’s not like working in a hotel, where you just start. I had to follow a 15-day course in Genoa by its fire brigade. We would be put in a ‘cave’ of foam to simulate emergencies or left in smoke and darkness, wearing a mask, to find passengers.
“Every crew member would be assigned a job in the evacuation procedure and, on your first week on any ship, eight of the daily 16 hours of work would be spent with a safety officer to be sure we knew our job and were familiar with the ship’s configuration. Once a week, even if we were in port, we would simulate an evacua-tion exercise.”
From the footage of passengers on board the Concordia, Mr Attard said it was clear the waiters were already in position exactly after the blackout.
However, they had to await the captain’s orders and were powerless until then.
“The safety measures were in place and the crew reacted but it was a case of human error. The captain should have ordered an evacuation immediately because he knew the vessel would be taking in water.”
While technical failure may be a contributing factor to an accident, human error is still considered by the International Maritime Organisation as oneof the main causes of mari-time accidents.