She said she was summoned to the bridge to translate instructions for passengers, particularly Russians, since she speaks several languages. Moldova is a former Soviet republic.
By NICOLE WINFIELD and ALISON MUTLER
Associated Press
ROME — A young Moldovan woman who says she was called to the bridge of the stricken Costa Concordia to help evacuate Russian passengers defended the embattled captain on Thursday, saying he worked tirelessly and “saved over 3,000 lives.”
Domnica Cemortan, who says she was translating Capt. Francesco Schettino’s orders during the frenzied evacuation, has emerged as a potential new witness in the investigation into the officer’s actions the night the ship ran aground.
Schettino is under house arrest, facing possible charges of manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck after he made an unauthorized detour from the programmed route that caused the vessel to slam into a reef and capsize off the Tuscan island of Giglio. At least 11 people were killed and 21 are missing.
Meanwhile, a new audiotape of the doomed vessel’s first communications with maritime authorities showed the ship’s officers continued to report only an electrical problem for more than 30 minutes after hitting the reef.
Attention has focused on Cemortan amid reports by crew and passengers that Schettino was seen eating dinner with a Russian-speaking woman at the time of the impact.
The 25-year-old Cemortan speaks Russian and had worked as a hostess for the Italian cruise operator, although her contract had expired and she was vacationing with friends when she boarded the luxury liner hours before the Jan. 13 disaster.
“I saw him at the restaurant. He was with a blonde woman. He did not look drunk. They were just eating,” a Filipino cocktail waitress, Gladly Balderama, said of Schettino.
Another Filipino crew member, Roger Barsita, said he served Schettino and a woman dinner.
“I have no idea who she is,” he told The Associated Press in Manila. “Some of the waiters said she’s Russian.”
In interviews with Moldovan media, Cemortan said she was dining with “colleagues, so to speak” in the ship’s restaurant when the ship struck the reef.
She said she was summoned to the bridge to translate instructions for passengers, particularly Russians, since she speaks several languages. Moldova is a former Soviet republic.