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and Published By CommPRO.biz
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The tragedy of the cruise ship, Costa Concordia, continues to unfold as the death toll has risen to 16 with 16 others still unaccounted for. However, in the early stages of the crisis, the loss of human life was overshadowed by the strange behavior of the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino. Allegedly, Capt. Schettino left the vessel in a lifeboat, leaving women, children and his fellow crew members aboard. According to reports, Captain Schettino faces charges of manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning ship in the aftermath of the accident. He remains under house arrest, pending formal charges from prosecutors.
Certainly not helping Capt. Schettino’s case is the leaked audio of his conversation with the Italian Coast Guard. Capt. Schettino, allegedly looking upon the ship from the safety of a life boat that he “fell in to,” is repeatedly ordered by a Coast Guard official to return to his vessel and “do his duty.” The obviously shaken and terrified Schettino offers some meek reasons for his actions, but ultimately does not return to the vessel. This bizarre reaction to an inherent responsibility got me thinking about how humans react in crisis situations, and particularly those who are consistently trained to react in a certain way.
