Cruise staffer: "Go back to your rooms"

A Costa Concordia crew member reportedly asks in this screen grab taken from an Italian television report for passengers to return to their cabins after the cruise liner ran aground off Tuscany Jan. 13, 2012.

/ Rainews24 via YouTube

An Italian television station made public Thursday new amateur video showing a staffer of the cruise ship that last week ran aground off Tuscany urging a hallway full of passengers in life jackets to return to their rooms.

The Costa Concordia crew member tells passengers "everything is under control," according to the British Broadcasting Corp.'s translation of the video, during what appears to be the beginning of the disaster that has left at least 11 people dead and 21 unaccounted for. The video was posted by Italy's Rainews24, which can be watched in Italian here.

(Scroll down to watch a report on the video in English)

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"We'll resolve the electrical problem that we have with the generator," the female crew member tells passengers in Italian, according to the BBC. "Everything will be fine. If you want to stand here, it's fine.

"But I'm kindly asking you to go back to your rooms, where you'll be seated and tranquil. Everything is under control."

The amateur video came to light hours after an audiotape emerged in which a crew member told an Italian port official that the ship was only experiencing a blackout 30 minutes after the accident that resulted in the cruise liner keeling over.

Cruise ship to port: It's just a blackout

[ici2i]

So much for hiring competent staff, training & preparation. Apparently nobody was in command and staff just kind of winged it. All the news coming out of this highly preventable tragedy is just simply astonishing. Hard to believe that so many stupid and ignorant acts of incompetene could be assembled in one place. It's beginning to look like the owner of this ship went out of their way to hire amatures and morons.

[smittyc]

The ladies advice and that of other crew involved more than likely elevated the death toll. What is even worse is the cowardly captain and cowardly crew fled the ship and left those now missing and dead to their fate. I am quite surprised CBS is allowing this coverage to continue, other media are currently defending the cruise industry by stating how well trained etc members of the crew and the officers of the ship are. Hopefully the paying public will rise up and boycott the cruise industry for a while, we need to send these folks a message, we are not just a money stream for your board of directors, the public is entittled to safe passage by the cruise industry. An episode like this needs to be punished and the best form of punishment is to hit them in the pocketbook.

[myoleman]

In any kind of danger, the first thing to do is to seek the help of Almighty God. He is an ever-present help in times of danger, 2 Timothy 4:17 "But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth."

[ralphing]

This god needs to be recalled and a new god who can actually prevent these needless deaths be put in power.

[myoleman]

nevwster1, ralphing. God is certainly in control over everything. That's why we should cry to Him to deliver us from all disasters. He lives! And he is totally merciful, compasionate and kind.

[Lovingcare]

That was also what happened in World Trade Center Tower II on 9/11. A public announcement repeatedly asked people to go back to work after the first plane hit the Tower I.

[smartasss1]

that's the problem when idiots are in-charge.

[ProgressNow]

That's exactly what I said from 2001-2009.

[barbaram99]

It sound too Titanic to me..The lady sending them to their rooms when they needed to get off the bloody sinking ship. Common sense..It was in the process of sinking..Where was the command in this matter. It seem the lessons are never learnt in this area..Appalling.

[nativecc]

This is absolutely criminal. During any emergency at sea, people are to report to their muster stations. For passengers, those are areas to congregate that are near life boats and out of the way of individuates addressing the emergency. It allows the staff to keep people informed and to make sure nobody is missing. Sending people back to their staterooms makes it almost impossible to get word to people as to what the next step would be and should only happen if the emergency has been fully eliminated. These drills are conducted prior to every vessel leaving port whether it is a cruise ship, tanker or research vessel. This went wrong on so many levels that it is amazing that more people weren't killed.

[ralphing]

The safety briefing wasn't going to happen until the next day.

[venusvegasvada]

How is anything this lady's fault? She's just following orders. She would have no idea what is going on in the bowels of the ship.
Ships have a top down command structure. The Captain is in charge.


It was the Captain's responsibility to manage it all. It would have been very hard for him to manage everything from a lifeboat halfway to shore, if not impossible. He should not of "slipped" and "fell" into a lifeboat.

[Scimajor]

More to the point I'd be willing to bet that she was given false information and no orders at all. She was simply attempting to keep people from panicking. I'm sure she thought there was no reason to panic. By all accounts the signal for abandon ship was not clearly disseminated amoung the crew and passengers.

Had she been properly trained, as she is supposed to be by maritime law, she certainly would have given more appropriate direction to the passengers.

Blame the Cruise Line industry for systematically NOT training all of the crew members. Don't blame her.

[nativecc]

She is supposed to be trained to respond to an emergency. While the captain has the ultimate authority, it is impossible for him/her to be every where at all times and needs a trained staff to do their jobs. They did not follow guidelines for any emergency situation. Every single person should have been at their designated muster station with lifejackets as they practiced in the drill prior to the vessels departure from port.

[margroks]

The 9/11 attacks should have taught everyone a lesson about listening to management when they tell you to stay put. The people who survived were the ones who left immediately. Common sense tells you to get out while you can and avoid a scramble to safety.

[jd2408]

This may explain why bodies are being found with life jackets on. They may have gone back to their rooms as instructed. Someone posted that it may be hard next time to get people to listen to instructions given. I think that poster is right on.