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the deplorable actions of Francesco chatino later known as Captain coward would cost the lives of 32 passengers
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and crew members but despite his slew of detrimental misgivings including a shocking Affair he would plead his
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innocence and even claim that he accidentally abandoned his ship but how did this man let his arrogance and
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cowardice kill so many innocent passengers this video looks at the events leading up to the tragic disaster
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of Costa Concordia the captain's reaction and the consequences left in his
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wake welcome or welcome back to Coffee House crime folks my name is Adrien and I'm back today with another Maritime
0:38
disaster today we're looking at the case of Captain coward Coffee House crimes case of Captain coward there are way too
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many C's there and an actual one too before we begin this is your gentle reminder that I serve coffee and Darkly
0:52
fascinating stories so if you like to caffeinate while you investigate please consider subscribing and now with that
0:57
said please grab yourself a coffee pull up a seat and get ready for the Deep dive this is the case of Captain
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[Music]
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coward today we find ourselves on the shoreline of Italy the home of petza
Italy, Sardinia, Isola del Giglio
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pasta and the Roman Civilization now this is kind of obvious to say but Italy
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is teeming with ancient history the city of Rome has been around for almost 3,000
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years and Italy well it has more Heritage sites than any other country
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when people think of Italy most of the attention goes towards its capital Rome and it's easy to see why because the
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city is absolutely beautiful but saying that there is so much more to talk about
1:45
when it comes to this country for example did you know that Italy has one of the oldest populations in the world
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to the southwest of Rome's coast and actually quite close to this story today the island of Sardinia is one of the
1:58
world's five recogn ized blue zones that being a geographic area with the lowest
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rate of chronic disease and the longest life expectancy now Studies have found that genetics only play a 20 to 30% role
2:12
in longevity and the rest comes down to Lifestyle and more specifically what you
2:17
eat several studies including one in over half a million people have shown that avoiding red meat and processed
2:23
meat can significantly reduce the risk of death from heart disease cancer and several other different causes although
2:31
most groups are not strict vegetarians they do only tend to eat meat around five times per month and the people of
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Sardinia primarily eat a 95% plant-based diet now personally I'm not a vegetarian
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but being open-minded those figures certainly are Food For Thought most of what they get here is ample nutrition
2:51
and nutrition is something that I myself have been coming further interested in as I get older now in the recent months
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for sponsoring today's video and by the way speaking of Sardinia there is one other Island very close to it we must
4:30
first talk about before getting into our case today found off the coast of Tuscany Isa
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Delo is a tiny island in the terranean sea not even 10 square miles in size not
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a lot happens on this small sleepy Island despite its Rich history but in 2012 the island received International
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attention for all the wrong reasons so without further delay let's talk about
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the man that caused all of this Captain coward also also known as Francesco
Frencesco Schettino
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chatino raised in the seaside town of castellar D stabia Francesco always had
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a connection to the Sea it is situated in the Bay of Naples and all residents Bas their lives around the ocean right
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before them and his family relished the time they spent together swimming in the ocean lounging on the nearby beaches and
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enjoying the extraordinary Southern Italian seafood so it was only natural
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after completing his primary education that Francesco looked towards the place he knew best for employment he attended
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the nautical Institute Nino bisho in the nearby town of piano de sento and while
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here he learned the ins and outs of seafaring and managing a ship and its crew after graduating from Nino bisho
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Francesco was hired by the ferry company tyrania a privately owned Italian Shipping Company the young man was
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responsible for facilitating the Ferry services between Italy's Mainland and its major surrounding islands for many
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years Francesco chatino excelled in his industry he was respected for his confidence and intuition and after
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Decades of working with terrania he knew his Fleet like the back of his hand but in April of 2002 and at the age of 41
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his career would finally change course it was at that moment that he was offered a job at the prestigious cruise
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ship company Costa crosier Francesco was to start as an official in charge of ship security but with his experience he
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was promised to move quickly up the ranks and so with that in mind he accepted the job and quickly received
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recognition both from his co-workers and his crew mates by his fourth year Francesco was promoted to Captain and
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furthermore he was given command of the Crown Jewel of the Italian cruise Fleet that being the prestigious and brand new
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Costa Concordia at the time this newly built
Costa Concordia
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ship was amongst the largest ships in Italian History weighing in at a staggering
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114,000 tons this vessel was unbelievably massive and was capable of
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carrying thousands of passengers and crew members daily Costa Concordia was built at Breakneck speed within 2 years
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at the vessel's launch in CEST pente in September of 2005 Spirits were
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extraordinarily high as workers proudly looked at the Titan that they had managed to build as per tradition in the
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maritime industry a champagne bottle is smashed against the hull of a newly built ship in a weird sort of tradition
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to wish it good luck it was Czech Model Eva Hova that was the one to throw the bottle but in a bad sign of things to
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come it actually failed to smash there's even a video of it right here the bottle flung overboard striking the exterior of
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the ship but to the crowd's dismay it failed to
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break now while this may seem inconsequential to the average onlooker it was considered to be a very bad Omen
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to those involved with Bill building the Costa Concordia sea farers know that should a bottle fail to break during the
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christening of a new vessel the ship and all of its passengers are sure to be cursed with bad luck now despite the
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worrying start the vessel was launched and Francesco was appointed Captain the company wanted a swift return for
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investment and many happy cruises over the following years unfortunately this marked the beginning of Francesco's
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rather sad downfall because despite his confident demeanor he was actually nowhere near as capable as he made
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himself out to be it was in November of 2008 that Costa Concordia suffered significant damage to her bow when
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improper lashings in combination with high winds forced her hard against the dark and then only 2 years later while
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commanding the Coster Atlantica he would also damage that ship while entering a port at reckless speeds now you would
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think with so much on board experience Francesco would know how to avoid these rather basic issues but the truth is he
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would often let his ego talk over a sense of safety and responsibility being born on the water trained at Sea and
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with over 25 years of experience Francesco had a false sense of Supremacy and with such confidence came
January 13th 2012
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arrogance on January the 13th 2012 the Costa Concordia departed to the Roman
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Port of cavia for a seven night cruise at departure there was an official
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headcount of 4,200 29 people Francesco felt relaxed as the Costa Concordia left
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its Port now despite being married to an Italian woman and having a young daughter Francesco had a rather special
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passenger on board with him that being a movan model and Dancer named Dominica
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korton of course she was the captain's special crewmate for seven nights meaning that she wasn't spending a
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single dime while on board you can probably see where this is going shortly after departure the decision was made to
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perform a Sail by salute for the people on the nearby island of gilio now this practice dates way back to ancient times
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and in Italy especially it is not uncommon for sailboats and cruise ships alike to maneuver close to the
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shorelines to perform these salutes with his maldovan partner by his side Captain
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Francesco left the bridge for dinner while first officer KIRO Ambrosio slowed the ship down and prepared to pass by
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the coastline and although this was not included in the itinerary Francesco had
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multiple reasons to Sail by salute to begin with his mentor Mario palombo
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currently lived on the island and the ship's head waiter named Antonino tioli
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was born there too and of course with his new guest on his arm he jumped at the opportunity to flex his command over
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the ship as Francesco dined with his guest the crew heeded his command and
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adjusted the course accordingly and almost 1 hour later the captain and his guest returned to the bridge after their
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meal after returning Francesco briefly consulted with the first officer about
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how close the ship could safely travel past the island and after hearing a rather unsatisfactory answer he then
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turned off the ship's computer navigation system and relied on his own personal experience and stads by now the
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ship was already on a direct course to the island now it's important to note
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that at this time the ship was traveling at 169 which was much faster than it should
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have in order to make up time lost for the captain having dinner with his guest a captain who was further distracted on
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the bridge while he attempted to entertain his affair despite the abundance of depth and distance sensors
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on board Francesco had turned all of them off to rely on his vision alone instead he was navigating a massive
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vessel in the darkness while simultaneously being preoccupied with the mistress in his arms after ordering
Danger...
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the hesman to turn the ship starboard lining it up with Julio's Harbor Francesco realized that the vessel was
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in fact much closer to the island than he initially thought and after seeing a rocky outcrop beneath the water to the
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ship's left he then ordered the helmsmen to turn the vessel even harder but by now it was already too late with the
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Costa Concordia turning drastically to the right he then realized he made yet another fatal mistake although the front
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of the ship missed those Jagged rocks the rear side would go straight into them to all of the passengers on board
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nothing initially seemed a Miss with most of them enjoying the five restaurants Turkish spas and Pool and
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Spa but that is when they were suddenly shocked to hear a loud bang coming from the hull followed by the earsplitting
Disaster.
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Screech of grinding metal all of a sudden the ship Shook and swayed massively with food and glasses spilling
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off the tables meanwhile passengers fell to the floor like dominoes the result
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was utter chaos due to Francesco's error the ship had struck a reef of rock known
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as the skull located about 2600 ft away from the port of gilio the Costa
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Concordia made contact with the Rocks 26 ft below the water line gouging two
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massive sheets of metal out of the ship's hole and leaving behind a massive Boulder the size of a car wedged into
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the side seawater rushed into the vessel flooding the engine and the generator
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rooms the lights on board flickered ominously before going out all together
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sending all passengers on board into a panic fortunately the ship was ready for
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a moment like this with the emergency lights flickering on moments later finally passengers and the crew were
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able to get their bearings in the dim light meanwhile upon the bridge Captain
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Francesco chatino was beginning to realize the magnitude of his mistake the
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chief engineer down below alerted Francesco that massive amounts of seawater were quickly flooding the
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engine room and would soon overcome the engine control rooms now to illustrate
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the lower portion of the ship was divided into 16 huge compartments most of the machinery and resources were
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stored here all required to keep the boat buoyant and sailing but if four of the 16 were to flood it was very
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possible that the ship would then capsize by 9:45 p.m. the Costa Concordia
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began to list or tilt towards the port a direct result of the water that
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continued to rush in to the bottom of the vessel and despite the grave developments All crew members were still
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unaware of what they were dealing with while crew members reassured passengers franccesco called the Costa Cruisers
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Operation Center to inform them that one of the compartments in the ship was flooding in reality he already knew that
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it was actually five the Italian Coast Guard was also informed of the disaster
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not from Francesco himself but from guests on board and obviously needing to
14:55
find out more information the Coast Guard contacted the C to concordia's Bridge Under strict order from Captain
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Francesco navigation officer Simone canessa told the Coast Guard that the ship was merely dealing with an
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electrical blackout and had the situation under control it was at this moment that the Coast Guard asked the
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ship if they needed assistance and diabolically Francesco ordered Simone to
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say no now Simone felt extremely pressured to lie in the face of a dangerous situation and it's almost
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understandable much like the military a ship staff are organized into a strict hierarchal
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structure and regardless of what an individual crewmate thinks they must follow their superior's command anything
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otherwise would be considered Mutiny it is likely that the crew on the bridge of Costa Concordia that night were aware of
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the problem they were facing and it's also likely that some even knew their Captain was not managing the situation
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well however due to their hierarchy they could do nothing but a bay at this point
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the onboard computer system was completely down screens were nothing more than black mirrors and the crew
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could not fire up the engines the ship was now a drift without any power and so in a feeble attempt to lock its position
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Francesco put the anchors down but at a depth so shallow even these failed at 10:26 p.m. the Coast Guard reinstated
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contact to ask for an update and now only 45 minutes after the ship's fatal Collision were they informed that water
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was coming in again simultaneously Francesco called the Costa Cru Operation Center to let them know that two
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compartments were flooded and that furthermore he was steering the ship towards gilio Island in reality though
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Francesco already knew that he had entirely lost control and that the ship was just aimlessly drifting towards the
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jagged Coastline you know what I find insane is that despite all of these mistakes already and an hour of lying to
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the authorities he would continue to dig this hole at 10 10:28 p.m. the Italian Coast
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Guard broadcasted an emergency call for all nearby boats to Route towards jilio Island to help with the Rescue by now
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the ship had finally stopped in pad Del gavara and shockingly Captain Francesco
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had left his Bridge the atmosphere was thick with confusion and a lack of
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leadership left many crew members unaware of the severity of the situation
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some crew directed Life rafts into the water While others instru Ed passengers to return to their cabins it was only
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half an hour later and minutes before 11:00 p.m. that whistles announced the official deployment of lifeboats with
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over 3,000 passengers and a th000 crew members uncertain about what to do
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second in command Roberto bosio initiated an early evacuation which was considered to be Mutiny but prioritized
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on board safety however with the Costa Concordia listing starboard it made it
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extremely challenging to to lower life rafts properly in a desperate situation
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some passengers even jumped into the water and swam towards the coastline all in the meanwhile rescue ships
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successfully launched on the other side passengers used various means to evacuate including climbing down ropes
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jumping into rescue boats swimming and paddling life rafts to shore the absence
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of clear leadership led to an extremely chaotic evacuation with the tumultuous
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emotions of fear and confusion hindering the process over 2 hours later more than
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half of the crew and passengers had safely arrived in gelo's Port at 12:42
Finding a Coward...
18:36
a.m. Gregorio DeFalco who was in charge of Coast Guard rescue operations contacted Captain Francesco to ask him
18:44
where he was Francesco revealed that apparently he had left his ship by
18:49
mistake accidentally falling into the Lifeboat which had now made its way to xilio Harbor absolutely outraged by the
18:57
response gregori demanded Francesco to return to the ship but the captain insisted that he was no longer able to
19:04
and could do the operation from his rock over the next 4 hours ships and helicopters alike rescued the remaining
19:11
passengers by 5:00 a.m. the evacuation was declared to be complete at that
Diving through ruins
19:17
moment Marco Brosco who was the head of the Coast Guard announced that 35 individuals were still unaccounted for
19:24
that including 29 passengers and six crew members all was not lost yet though
19:30
because despite these challenges divers would still discover multiple survivors
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this included a South Korean couple who seemed to sleep through the entire ordeal and a crew member who was trapped
19:42
by a broken leg was also discovered with these three miraculously surviving the
19:48
official death toll from the Costa Concordia concluded at 32 that sadly being 27 passengers and five crew
19:55
members tragically one Salvage member would also die during rescue efforts
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finalizing the death toll at 33 from January the 14th through to the 30th
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Italian Navy Coast Guard and Fire and Rescue service divers meticulously searched the partially submerged ship
20:13
for any remaining survivors as expected the task was dangerous due to the
20:18
Hazardous conditions within the vessel the dark mazike hallways were filled with floating Furniture suitcases and
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personal belongings divers has worked in peirs navigating the Twisted claustrophobic corridors using cave
20:33
Lines by January the 31st 22 bodies had been recovered after a 2-e rescue
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operation the ship was declared to be lifeless and with 33 deaths on his hands
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Francesco had a lot of explaining to do but before we focus on the now Infamous Captain coward let's first look at what
Removing the ship
20:50
happened to the ship with the ship now empty workers could begin dismantling the cost Concordia but with the vessel's
20:56
oil tankers inside they first had to remove them in order to protect the wildlife nearly 24 tons of heavy fuel
21:03
oil had to be extracted over a two-month time period and by the end of March the ship was declared to be free of toxic
21:10
oil the next step of the operation was to refloat and then tow the Costa Concordia this ended up costing more
21:16
than $ 1.2 billion US and would take over 2 years to
21:25
complete an extensive operation reverted the ship to its upright position and
21:30
from there it was refloated and towed to Genoa in early 2014 ready for scrapping
21:36
it took 3 years to remove organize and recycle 53,000 tons of metal for
21:42
comparison this is around 2 and 1 half times the material of the
21:47
Titanic describing the cleanup efforts as Monumental would be an understatement
21:52
the comprehensive process involved refloating Towing scrapping and restoring the crash site spanning 6
21:59
years and costing nearly $2 billion once the disaster was resolved attention
22:05
turned to the passengers who of course were among the most affected following
22:10
the recovery of 32 bodies and the identification of 64 injuries the Costa
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Cru Enterprise announced a compensation package on January the 27th 2012 to all
22:22
people who were uninjured they received €1,000 per person to cover lost belongings and travel expenses as for
22:30
those injured and the families of those deceased they were compensated based on their specific circumstances the public
Public reaction
22:37
reaction was Swift as news coverage revealed the chaos on board the Costa Concordia passengers had documented the
22:44
unfolding events exposing the widespread confusion and disarray in the video footage of course all of which prompting
22:52
shock Around the World perhaps inevitable but questions arose about the handling of the ordeal
22:58
the spotlight immediately fell on Francesco chatino The Man In Charge with three decades of Maritime experience
23:05
including 11 years with Costa crues this man was expected to be the figure
23:10
responsible for ensuring the safety of all passengers as information leaked to the press his mistakes would become
23:17
obvious for the entire world to see however despite this he would not give the admission of guilt that people were
23:24
expecting 6 months later the infamous captain is finally speaking there is no scale for measuring
23:31
the pain Franchesco scatino offers condolences but then says he became a
23:37
victim in This calamity clearly resenting the captain coward label that has hounded him because he abandoned the
23:43
ship as it was sinking I was more or less forced to go into the Lifeboat I don't know if I slipped or fell scatino
23:50
takes every opportunity to duck responsibility including for hitting the reef I did not have command
23:58
was in the hands of an officer but damning evidence shows he was in command an Italian newspaper has published the
24:04
contents of the ship's blackbox data recorder it shows scatino took the helm
24:10
6 minutes before the Collision he does now admit he was on the phone at that
24:15
critical moment I blame myself for being distracted what about the 1-hour delay
24:21
in calling for help and ordering passengers to abandon ship he insists he should be seen as a hero that he saved
24:28
lives because he waited till the ship drifted to shallower Waters ultimately his actions revealed nothing but
24:35
cowardice and incompetence eventually the Italian media managed to obtain the
24:40
phone calls made between Francesco and Gregorio and the nation listened in disbelief as Francesco through the phone
24:48
stubbornly fed misinformation to Gregorio and adamantly refused to return
24:53
to his sinking vessel
Francesco's Famous Phonecall
25:26
fore fore
25:56
foree
26:26
for
26:56
for
27:24
[Music] for
27:30
foree [Music]
27:56
fore
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[Music]
28:26
for
Legal Proceedings
28:44
to say that his reputation was tarnished is definitely an understatement officially nicknamed Captain coward or
28:50
Captain Calamity the general public hated him for his terrible Behavior I mean we have a man who killed 33 people
28:56
through his arrogance abandoned his ship through his cowardice and then lied about all of it all in the meanwhile
29:02
being caught with his pants down through an affair by the time his trial wrapped up Francesco was referred to as Italy's
29:08
most hated man and he himself claimed he was the victim of a media meat grinder Francesco's trial began in December of
29:15
2014 he was accused of 32 counts of manslaughter causing a maritime accident
29:20
abandoning ship with passengers on board and a lack of cooperation with rescue operations the crowd inside was massive
29:28
with more than 250 co-plaintiffs and 400 Witnesses alongside Francesco's trial
29:34
five other Coster employees stood separate trials for their own offenses these ranging from manslaughter right
29:40
through to negligence after taking separate plea deals jail sentences ranging from 18 months to nearly 3 years
29:47
were handed out to all five employees but Francesco chatino was a different
29:52
story and despite his lawyers claiming that he was being unfairly made into a scapegoat his plea deal was immediately
30:06
[Music] [Applause] [Music]
30:26
denied
30:35
[Music]
30:40
[Applause] [Music]
30:46
[Applause] [Music] Francesco maintained that despite the accident his actions had saved many
30:53
lives after the ship hit that Rocky outcrop Captain coward would further blame defective generators and the
30:59
flooding of compartments for aggravating the situation his lawyer also argued that these malfunctions were the ones
31:06
responsible for the majority of their fatalities in the end Francesco chatino was sentenced to 16 years in prison
31:13
after the 19-month trial the verdict was comprised of 10 years for manslaughter 5
31:19
years for causing the Shipwreck and one year for abandoning his passengers all to be served consecutively not only did
31:25
his actions ruin his profession career they also ruined his marriage his family life and the lives of all those injured
31:32
and deceased this story is a brutal example of what can happen when a bad mixture of ego and incompetence combine
31:40
resulting in the deaths of many and one of the worst cruise ship disasters in nautical
31:47
history according to reports Francesco chatino should be released from prison in the year 2033 meaning he still has 9
Outro
31:55
years behind bars before you go today let me know what you think about this story do you think Captain coward
32:00
received the time he deserved behind bars if not what sort of punishment would you have given him thank you so
32:05
much for watching today folks I really do appreciate you being here and thank you to ag1 for sponsoring today's video
32:11
I'll leave a link in the description down below and also I'll be doing a Q&A soon too so if you have a question for
32:16
me please check out my community post and finally if you want to support me in the channel or be part of the exclusive
32:22
Q&A then please check out my patreon alternatively if you want to follow me and my Adventures check out my social
32:27
media most notably my Instagram thank you again for watching folks and as always I'll see you again very soon for
32:33
another one until that moment arrives though remember to look after yourself look after each other and of course stay
32:38
safe thank you and
32:50
goodbye