Speaking from her home in Moldova, Miss Cemortan said: “I have not yet
met with the prosecutor from Grosetto. Once I have done that I will be
able to give more information about what happened.”
She has refused to elaborate on what relationship she had with the captain,
but has insisted it was entirely innocent and has praised his actions during
the chaotic evacuation.
Last week Miss Cemortan, who has a two-year-old daughter said: “I am not
the captain’s lover. You know why? He was always showing me photos of his
daughter when she was little. A man who wants a lover does not behave like
that.”
She admitted having dinner with several of the ship’s officers on the evening
the ship capsized, but insisted the captain was not with them.
However photographs taken by other passengers appear to contradict that claim.
Miss Cemortan has been employed by Costa cruises for around five years working
as a dancer and also helping translate for the large number of
Russian passengers on board.
It is thought she speaks four languages having spent time in Romania, France
and Italy.
Describing the moment the vessel struck rocks and began to flounder, Miss
Cemortan said she had been asked by the captain personally to join him on
the bridge in order to translate information to the 100 or so Russian
passengers on board.
She said: “Sure, I was close to Capt Schettino – I was translating what
he was telling me to say. I translated into Russian what he and his second
in command were telling me in Italian – that passengers should return to
their cabins because it was just a power failure. I repeated that last
phrase maybe 10 times.”
And she claimed that rather than abandoning ship before his passengers as
widely suggested Schettino had remained on the bridge with the rest of his
crew.
She said: “I’m sure that he was still on the bridge (around midnight)
because it was at that time that he told us to leave, to abandon ship.
I and another colleague said that we wanted to stay. But he told us to run. I
saw him a long time later, on the island.”
Captain Schettino is currently under house arrest at his home in Meta di
Sorrento near Naples and faces at least 12 years in jail if convicted of
abandoning his ship and multiple counts of manslaughter.
Miss Cemortan is expected to travel to Italy
to meet prosecutors later this week.
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