Cruise regulatory body urged to review Italy tragedy

NEW YORK -- Representatives of the world's cruise industry called Thursday for their international regulatory body to carefully review the investigation into the fatal crash and chaotic abandonment of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia to prevent a tragedy like it from happening again.

"Safety is the cruise industry's No. 1 priority," said Christine Duffy, president of the Cruise Line International Association, or CLIA, the global industry's biggest trade group, at a briefing in London that was broadcast in New York.

"While there is still a great deal not yet known about this incident, all of our members recognize the seriousness of these events and want to ensure that we apply the lessons learned from this tragic event," Duffy said.

The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into well-charted rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio after its captain made an unauthorized diversion Friday from his programmed route. The ship then keeled over on its side.

Eleven people have been confirmed dead in the disaster, the worst in recent times. Twenty-one people remain missing — among them Americans Gerald and Barbara Heil of White Bear Lake, Minn., who were taking a trip they'd long anticipated to celebrate their retirement.

Divers at Giglio resumed a search for them just as Duffy and other industry experts spoke at an annual passenger ship safety conference. The conference was planned before the Costa Concordia disaster.

Questions have swirled about the preparation of the ship's crewmembers, the way passengers were informed of the looming disaster and the behavior of the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino.

The cruise line and Italian prosecutors accuse Schettino of steering the ship off course. He also is accused of abandoning the ship before the evacuation was complete. Schettino is currently under house arrest.

On Thursday, a new audiotape emerged of the first contact between port officials and the Costa Concordia, in which Schettino is heard insisting that his cruise ship had only a blackout a full 30 minutes after it had rammed into a reef.

The recording between Schettino and Livorno port officials began at 10:12 p.m. Italian time on Friday, a good 30 minutes after the ship violently hit a reef and panicked passengers had fled the dining room to get their life jackets.

In it, Schettino is heard assuring the officer that he was checking out the reasons for the blackout. But he doesn't volunteer that the ship had hit a reef.

The port officer tells Schettino that his agency had heard from a relative of one of ship's sailors that "during dinner everything fell on their heads." Passengers in the dining area reported plates and glasses slamming down onto diners. "We are verifying the conditions on board," Schettino replies.

Asked if passengers had been told to put on life jackets, he responds: "Correct."

The industry representatives refused to comment specifically on Schettino or details of the Costa Concordia disaster. Instead, they sought to provide information on the general procedures and safety standards that govern the industry in a bid to ease travelers' concerns.