Captain pleaded with coast guard official who ordered him to return to capsized ship
Capt. Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which hit a reef off the coast of Tuscany on Friday and later capsized, abandoned the his ship during the evacuation efforts and later pleaded not to re-board with an Italian coast coat guard official who ordered him to do so. “You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear?” coast guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco shouted, according to recently emerged audio evidence, the Associated Press reports. Schettino is heard replying that it was too dark, and he would coordinate the evacuation from the lifeboat he was already in. De Falco was unimpressed: “And so what? You want go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!” It is unclear whether Schettino eventually returned on board. The confirmed death toll from the Costa Concordia shipwreck stands at 11.