Italian cruise ship captain arrested for abandoning ship.

[carverman]

Anyone for a "3hr cruise" on the good ship Minnow....(Gilligan?)

Well it happened again..an Italian captain and crew abandoning a cruise ship
sinking like the Titanic with 4000 people aboard and only 50 lifeboats and
jackets. Captain and crew took some lifejackets for themselves and left
the passengers to fend for themselves.
http://news.yahoo.com/cruise-ship-ag...235744825.html

This happened previously in the the Oceanos incident in South Africa where..
"Captain Yiannis Avranas was accused by the passengers of leaving hundreds behind with no one other than the ship's onboard entertainers to help them evacuate. Avranas claimed that he left the ship first in order to arrange for a rescue effort, and then supervised the rescue effort from a helicopter. Avranas stated, "[B]When I give the order abandon ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. Abandon is for everybody. If some people want to stay, they can stay."


Fly on the wall in sinking cruise ship Oceanos...(fly stayed with the sinking
ship, unlike the chicken captain!)

Firstmate: Capitano..I think we have made a serious mistake!
Captain Avranas: What?..why do you bother me when I am drinking my
bottle of $200 Italiano Chianti? You better have a good reason.
Firstmate" Capitano..we opened the waster water (toilet) valves by
accident at sea....and the water is coming in and flooding the hold.
Captain Avranas: So you can't plug the leak with a roll of toilet paper?
FM: No Capitano...it is impossible to stop leak and ship is starting to list
to one side.

Captain: Ok, give the order to abandon ship..wait..I'll take my half bottle
of this good wine to drink on the lifeboat..
FM: Lifeboat Capitano..isn't it a bit early to abandon ship? What about
helping the passengers get into the lifeboats?
Captain" Hell no..When I give the order to abandon ship..EVERYONE should
abandon ship..if they want to stay..they can stay..what can I do!
FM..so you are leaving then?
Captain: Yes, it is my duty to row out and call for help for a helicopter to
take me to port, so I can co-ordinate the rescue....
But I hate to leave my all my wine and pasta behind on a sinking ship..
please Guiseppi..take another life boat and load the captains wine and
pantry on it...Bella Bella...Caoi!