Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino ordered a chef to make him dinner and bring him drinks as the doomed cruise ship sank, it was claimed yesterday.
With the ship’s 3,000 passengers panicking, the skipper delayed making a mayday call while he had a meal with a mystery brunette.
Filipino cook Rogelio Barista said the pair sipped drinks in the restaurant and had dessert almost 30 minutes after the collision.
He added: “Everything was falling apart, including our cooking. I willed myself not to get scared. I peered out and saw the captain was still waiting for his drink.
“I asked myself why he was still there waiting for his companion’s dessert with what was happening.”
Transcripts from the ship’s black box show Schettino waited almost half an hour before raising the alarm with the owners. But terrified passengers had called the coastguard 20 minutes earlier, telling them of the catastrophic collision.
Junior officers on the Concordia eventually led a mutiny to get passengers to safety.Coastguard staff at the scene reported lifeboats in the water before Schettino, from Naples, gave the order.
A source said: “We believe once the ship started to list, crew members realised the seriousness of the situation.”
Schettino, 52, was last night placed under house arrest after being released from jail.
He was still being quizzed by police yesterday on suspicion of multiple manslaughter as damning transcripts emerged of conversations he had with coastguards.
In the first one at 9.49pm on Friday – 30 minutes after the collision – Schettino is asked by an unnamed man in the Porto Santo Stefano control room: “Is everything OK?”
Despite a huge gash having been torn into the hull, he replied: “Yes, just a small technical problem.”
Then there was silence until 12.30am when officials in Livorno managed to contact the captain who by now was on a lifeboat.
The order to abandon ship had been given only an hour earlier and hundreds remained on board.
Mr De Falco reacted furiously when Schettino admitted he had fled the liner.
Mr De Falco said: “You get back on board! That is an order! There is nothing else for you to consider. You have sounded the Abandon Ship. Now I am giving the orders. Get back on board. Is that clear?”
When Schettino was told there were bodies in the sea, he asked Mr De Falco: “How many?”
The livid coastguard replied: “I don’t know! Christ, you should be the one telling me!” And when Schettino pointed out it was dark, Mr De Falco screamed: “What do you want to do? Go home? It is dark and you want to go home?”
In his final reply Schettino said he was returning to the ship but was reportedly seen getting into a taxi.
Schettino’s lawyer issued a statement saying the skipper was “broken up, troubled and saddened by the loss of life”.
And Schettino’s wife, Fabiola, said last night: “Those who know him well have testified he is dedicated to his work and professionalism.
“This can be demonstrated by his decisive actions which helped limit the consequences of the accident for all the passengers.”
Investigators are probing why the ship hit rocks 150 metres from Giglio island off the Italian west coast when the boat should have been four miles out to sea.
Black box recordings are believed to show the skipper deliberately changed the course shortly before the crash.
Prosecutors believe Schettino had been “showing off” to the ship’s restaurant boss, Antonello Tievoli.
Mr Tievoli had called his family on the shore to tell them the 13-storey liner would be passing very close to the island. He was then invited on to the bridge by Schettino.
Under Italian law, a captain who abandons his ship before all crew and passengers are accounted for can be jailed for 12 years.
Here is the full transcript of Schettino’s conversation with Captain De Falco.
De Falco: “This is De Falco speaking from Livorno. Am I speaking with the commander?”
Schettino: “Yes. Good evening, Cmdr. De Falco.”
De Falco: “Please tell me your name.”
Schettino: “I’m Cmdr. Schettino, commander.”
De Falco: “Schettino? Listen Schettino. There are people trapped on board. Now you go with your boat under the prow on the starboard side. There is a pilot ladder. You will climb that ladder and go on board. You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear? I’m recording this conversation, Cmdr. Schettino…”
Schettino: “Commander, let me tell you one thing…”
De Falco: “Speak up! Put your hand in front of the microphone and speak more loudly, is that clear?”
Schettino: “In this moment, the boat is tipping…”
De Falco: “I understand that, listen, there are people that are coming down the pilot ladder of the prow. You go up that pilot ladder, get on that ship and tell me how many people are still on board. And what they need. Is that clear? You need to tell me if there are children, women or people in need of assistance. And tell me the exact number of each of these categories. Is that clear? Listen Schettino, that you saved yourself from the sea, but I am going to… I’m going to make sure you get in trouble. …I am going to make you pay for this. Go on board, (expletive)!”
Schettino: “Commander, please…”
De Falco: “No, please. You now get up and go on board. They are telling me that on board there are still…”
Schettino: “I am here with the rescue boats, I am here, I am not going anywhere, I am here…”
De Falco: “What are you doing, commander?”
Schettino: “I am here to co-ordinate the rescue…”
De Falco: “What are you co-ordinating there? Go on board! Co-ordinate the rescue from aboard the ship. Are you refusing?”
Schettino: “No, I am not refusing.”
De Falco: “Are you refusing to go aboard commander? Can you tell me the reason why you are not going?”
Schettino: “I am not going because the other lifeboat is stopped.”
De Falco: “You go aboard. It is an order. Don’t make any more excuses. You have declared ‘abandon ship.’ Now I am in charge. You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me? Go, and call me when you are aboard. My air rescue crew is there.”
Schettino: “Where are your rescuers?”
De Falco: “My air rescue is on the prow. Go. There are already bodies, Schettino.”
Schettino: “How many bodies are there?”
De Falco: “I don’t know. I have heard of one. You are the one who has to tell me how many there are. Christ.”
Schettino: “But do you realise it is dark and here we can’t see anything…”
De Falco: “And so what? You want to 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!”
Schettino: “…I am with my second in command.”
De Falco: “So both of you go up then … You and your second go on board now. Is that clear?”
Schettino: “Commander, I want to go on board, but it is simply that the other boat here … there are other rescuers. It has stopped and is waiting…”
De Falco: “It has been an hour that you have been telling me the same thing. Now, go on board. Go on board! And then tell me immediately how many people there are there.”
Schettino: “OK, commander”
De Falco: “Go, immediately!”
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