While the death toll has risen to 11, and there are still 24 passengers missing from the appeal (even if it is chaos on the real number of missing), the foreign press is raging on the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident, stranded since Friday night on the rocks of the island of Giglio due to a risky manoeuvre.
To end up in the crosshairs, even of foreign sites, is in particular the commander Francesco Schettino, on whose conduct "chilling" details continue to emerge, as he defines them Le Figaro, referring to telephone interceptions in which the ship's manager minimized the incident and refused to return on board to rescue the passengers. French newspapers are among the most careful to highlight the story, given that according to the spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, Romain Nadal, there are two Frenchmen dead, two wounded, and four missing.
Le Figaro also dedicates a report to the island of Giglio, which is experiencing dramatic hours also due to the strong risk of environmental disaster. “Concord sows discord”: the newspaper accuses local citizens of poor hospitality and cold reception towards the castaways and foreign journalists.
Meanwhile Le Monde announces that Costa Cruises France will compensate all 462 transalpine passengers who were on board the ship. Compensation which obviously will not be limited to the reimbursement of expenses: according to experts, it will be a record figure for the company. The newspaper also reports an interview given by the president of the group, Georges Azouze, on radio Rtl, the first radio in France, who breaks a spear against the crew: "99% of the people on board were evacuated within only two hours, despite the particularly difficult conditions”.
The US newspapers are also particularly attentive to the matter: in fact, two US citizens are still missing, of the 120 who were on the ship. The Wall Street Journal also analyze the insurance-compensation issue: “Costa Cruises has invested 450 million euros for the Concordia, and the sum is entirely covered by the insurance companies XL Group, RSA Insurance Group, Assicurazioni Generali spa (the Italian company only insures the hull part, ed.). Costa Concordia is insured for up to $3,06 billion, according to Mark Baylis, a company spokesman. He figures it would be sufficient for the wide range of liabilities in the case, from injuries to passengers and crew, from damage to cargo to oil pollution and wreckage removal. However, everything would be invalidated - underlines the WSJ - in the event of a criminal offense by a member of the crew or the captain”. Hypothesis that, initial information in hand, seems increasingly probable.
In Germany, on the other hand, there is strong concern for the 10 German tourists who are still untraceable. Time and patience he dedicates the opening of the site to the matter: “The analysis of the black box puts the captain of the Costa Concordia in a bad light. From a phone call it becomes clear that he has disregarded the rescue plan ”. The Frankfurter Allgemeine he never misses an opportunity to criticize the actions of the Italian authorities: “After the sinking of the Costa Concordia, the Italian authorities say that 16 are missing, but 29 are missing. They have little hope of finding survivors. Telephone recordings blame cruise ship captain."
