You may think that the passengers of the Costa Concordia- the ship that sank last week off the coast of Italy- were having a pretty awful week. But do you know who else is having a rough go of it? Captain Schettino’s wife, thank you very much.
Captain Francesco Schettino has been excoriated in the media for a laundry list of allegations- showing off, failing to report the incident quickly enough , evacuating too early , refusing to return to the ship during the evacuation under orders , claiming he slipped and fell into a lifeboat and generally not being a very responsible captain , all things told. The word “coward” may have been bandied about one or one thousand times after the scope of the tragedy was discovered.
But as Captain Schettino sits under house arrest, his wife has some harsh words for the media that’s raked her spouse over the coals. Fabiola Russo is quite displeased with the media depiction of her husband as some sort of a bumbling, not very brave guy. Speaking to Italian mag Oggi , she fumes:
“My husband has been transformed into a global media event, unprecedented. He loves ships, in-depth knowledge, has never ceased to study them, wanting to know the limits and behaviour. You are never limited to the helm. For this to his crews have always been a point of reference, a teacher. It is decided, firm and shiny, analyzes situations, understands and knows the deal. “
Russo continues:
“He wasn’t in charge of the Concordia by chance, he knows how to do his job but sometimes even those who know how to do their job can make mistakes- that’s if he did make a mistake.”
Schettino denies any wrongdoing in the tragic cruise ship sinking.