captain schettino is not captain coward. >> by now, it was nearly 1:00 in the morning.s family and dozens of other passengers were still trying to climb a metal ladder to reach the outside of the ship but it was still a mad scramble to escape. >> men pushing women aside, pushing children aside. >> kids. >> i put my foot down and said, this is not going to happen, i'm not going to sit here and watch one other man jump in front of this mother and child to get his way up there. it wasn't going to happen. >> the ananias family would be among the last to escape the concordia alive. jumping ten feet into a moving lifeboat, and even then feeling they were on their own. >> they did nothing. they just said -- they try to get the boat as close as possible. they just told us to jump. that was it. >> months later, georgia and her family believe their experience on the concordia is a wake-up call for the entire industry. >> i really feel for passengers getting on board a ship. they say it's safe and the best way to go been but you get in a disaster like this and you see what happens

captain schettino, at this point, he was safely away. on the phone, on the phone with the coast guard commander at that time. in tapes released today, he tells them that he and his officers are on a life boat. he mentions he thinks there are still about 100 passengers on board, the coast guard commander is stunned. he's flabbergasted. first, he tells the captain to get his man back on board the ship to take care of the remaining people. then, after a number of excuses from the captain, he goes ballistic. >> the captain schettino was not on the last life boat. his own taped conversation confirmed that. he left passengers and crew behind and knew he left them behind. and the rocks, he should have never been near them. this was the line that the con cord yeah was on. the yellow line is the line they should have taken, the pink line takes them to giglio. the rock was not indicted on his chart. we don't know precisely which rock he hit, but map that all mariners use, you can see there are many rocks in the area. the little dots surrounding th

captain schettino is ordered at least ten times to go back on board to oversee the evacuation. he resists. [ speaking foreign language ] >> schettino seems to contradict himself again by then saying he did not abandon the ship. >> what's clear is that schettino had lost control of the situation and was unaware of what was happening on board his own ship. >> that one has now grown to more than 10 dead and there are still nearly two dozen missing. schettino has never been involved in an accident before and his lawyer says his actions after the crash saved the lives of many of the passengers and crew members. so all eyes are now on the recovery of the ship's data recorders, to see if they might prove schettino was indeed a hero or a captain who abandoned its ship and its thousands of passengers. >> the italian coast guard says they've located a second black box. do we know when they're going to actually be able to retrieve that and when we may get answers on the night of what happened the night of the crash exactly? >> reporter: at the moment, they're still saying they're concentr

schettino okay, i'm doing it. the newspaper reports the captain never went back to the ship. >> now, we're not clear whether that's cell phone transmissions or radio transmissions, but that news paper is a bona fide newspaper. really just remarkable material. you can bet your bottom dollar that that is going to end up in court. we do want to get you up to speed on what's happening now. that captain who steered the ship into the rocky italian coast is about to go before a judge and be questioned today. he says he just hit rocks that weren't on his charts. cnn has been in the courtroom and she's joining us now on the line. so many questions. i think just give us the run down on the first thing that's happening in court with regard to this captain. >> that's right. the captain is in court right now. he's sitting in front of a a female judge whether that's going to make a difference or not, we don't know. but he's with his lawyer and the prosecutor who has very damning information against him right now. but his lawyer

schettino says, no, what, abandoned? i'm here. the port authority says, you must return onboard, climb the ladder, the rope ladder, return to the fore, the stem, and coordinate the work. and shet tchettino says nothing. they say, you must tell us how many people are on board, how many women, how many children, you have to coordinate the rescue operation. commander, this is an order. now i'm in charge. you have abandoned ship and now you are going to go to the stem and coordinate the work. there are already dead bodies. at this point the captain jumps in and says, how many? the port authority says, you should be the one telling me. what do you want to do? do you want to go home? now, go back on the stem and tell me what you want to do. and it ends, we have seen, with schettino saying, okay, i'm doing it. according to newspaper reports though the captain never went back to the ship. absolutely -- absolutely -- >> admission. what he's done by saying the word abandonment, that is an admission. >> he seems to retract it, and i should s

could face >>> schettino could face manslaughter charges and 15 years in prison.him under house arrest while they consider the charges. and the italian coast guard continues to search for survivors. the divers struggle to move through a labyrinth of debris and furniture. and we're joined by a couple who were fortunate enough to escape. they arrived in albany, new york, this morning. appreciate your taking the time. let me ask you your reaction. i know you can hear the anger and frustration of the port authority coast guard telling captain scutehettino, christ, i your job to be there, and him fighting back. what is your reaction given you were there that day? >> it is -- it's incredible to believe that the man just left the ship, and with everything that was going on, people dying, and people panicking, with no direction from anywhere, and he just up and left the ship. it is just incomprehensible. >> it is hard to maintain a chain of command when the top man leaves the boat. >> let me ask you, brian, what happened to you. you know, you were -- you got on the deck a

. >> this is captain schettino. >> listen, schettino. there are people trapped on board. now, you have to go with your life boat and go under the boat stem on the straight side. there's a ladder there. get on board the ship and tell me, you tell me how many people there are. clear? i'm recording this conversation, capital yab schettino. >> i understand. listen, there are people coming down the stem ladder. you must take that ladder in the opt sit direction. get on board the ship and you tell me how many people there are and what they have. you tell me the there are children, women, people with special needs. and you tell me how many there are in each of this category. is that clear? look, schettino, you might have been saved from the sea, but i will make sure you go through a very rough time. i will make sure you go through a lot of trouble. get on board. >> i'm going now because there is the other motor boat that has stopped now. >> you go on board. it is an order. you cannot make any other violations. you have declared abandoning ship. now i'm in charge. you get on boar

you in the transcript yesterday where he was saying, i understand, listen, because you can hear schettino's voice panicking. i understand there are people coming down the ladder. you must take that ladder the opposite direction. get on board the ship. tell me how many people are on board and how many in each category. remember, they want them by women and children and disabled so they can figure out how to do the rescue operation without leadership on board they can't do that. absolutely amazing to hear what we were talking about in those transcripts yesterday. let's get right to dan rivers because he's in italy and he can update us on what the latest is in this story. good morning to you, dan. >> reporter: good morning to you. rescue operations were suspended for a short time. this morning over behind me. the boats background the ship. again, let me step out of the way, you can have a look at what we've got here. they've started to put boons just around this little beach that we're standing in front of. i think in anticipation of any fuel spills the ship. we've been blessed with really cal

and startling new details have been emerging about what captain schettino may have been up until theevacuation. according to one witness interviewed, captain schettino was seen ordering dinner for himself and a female companion in the ship's restaurant. >> translator: the captain insisted on having a meal at around 10:30. he arrived with a woman who i didn't recognize. at that time, i was with a colleague. and we wondered what was going on. at that time, we really felt something was wrong. the stuff in the kitchen was falling off shefls and we realized how grave the situation was. i have had 12 years experience as a cook on a cruise ship. but i did wonder, though, what the captain was doing. why was he still there? anyway, we gave him his drink. after that, he was also still waiting for the desert to be served to the woman he was with. >> it's now weeks since the costa condordia capsized. in italy, news agency is reporting that divers have had to abandon their search for survivors after the ship started moving again. hopes of finding anyone alive are fading fast. passengers who did m

listen to the coast guard ordering him to get back on the ship. [ speaking foreign language ] >>> schettinold face manslaughter charges and 15 years in prison. a judge placed him under house arrest while they consider the charges. >>> and divers struggle to move through a labyrinth of debris and furniture, and we are joined by a couple who were fortunate to escape. they arrived in albany, new york, this morning. thank you for being with us, and appreciate your time, and i want to hear your reaction, because you can hear the angry and the frustration of the port authority officer telling the captain, christ, it is your job to be there, and him fighting back. what is your reaction hearing that given that you were there that day? >> well -- >> it is -- it's incredible to believe that the man just left the ship, and with everything that was going on, people dying, and people panicking, with no direction from anywhere, and he just up and left the ship. it is just incomprehensible. >> it is hard to maintain a chain of command when the top man leaves the boat. >> let me ask you, brian, what happen

given an interview, a filipino cook, claiming that rather than leading from the front, the captain schettinoo wait for his meal to be served with a female companion. here is what he said. >> translator: the captain insisted having a meal around 10:30. he arrived with a woman i didn't recognize. at that time i was with a colleague, another cook. we wondered what was going on. at that time, we really felt something was wrong. the stuff in the kitchen was falling off shelves. we realized how grave the situation was. you would not believe it. i've had 12 years of experience as a cook on a ship. i've even witnessed fires so i wasn't that scared. but i did wonder, though, what the captain was doing, why was he still there. anyway we gave him his drink. after that he was also still waiting for the dessert to be served to the woman he was with. >> reporter: absolutely extraordinary testimony, wolf, if it turns out to be true. but the ship hit the rock at about 9:41 p.m. and as that cook said, 10:30 the captain was still waiting there for his dessert rather than being up on the bridge and leading fro

where was the captain schettino after it hit the rock. he was allegedly with a woman ordering dinner. >> the captain insisted on having a meal at 10:30. he arrived with a woman who i didn't recognize. we wondered what was going on. at that time, we really felt something was wrong. the stuff in the kitchen was falling off shelves and we realized how grave it was. i had 12 years of experience as a cook on a cruise ship, i even witnessed fire so i wasn't that scared, but i wondered what the captain was doing, why was he still there. way gave him his drink. after that, he was waiting for the dessert to be served to the woman he was with. >> waiting for dessert, he was waiting for dessert while his ship was sinking. he would later desert the ship. his latest excuse was he tripped and fell into the life boat. first he denied it. then he told the coast guard he could better coordinate the rescue from there. the commander went bolelubis ba ordered him to get back on board. he never did. he said he tripped, fell, stumbled, and fell into a lifeboat

schettino admitted making a navigational error. 11 people are confirmed dead and nearly two dozen still remain missing. >>> rescue efforts have just begun again on board the costa concordia after being suspended because of safety fears. the italian coast guard says heavy weather is moving into night and could force the stop of the rescue effort again. time is running out to find more survivors. >> reporter: once again, the unstable nature of the wreck has halted the search and rescue operation. around first light wednesday, the ship shifted 30 centimeters, about a foot, forcing divers to pull out. before they did, they took this video as they navigated through the flooded ship, strewn full of floating obstacles, dark, claustrophobic and extremely dangerous. as a precaution, more floating booms are being placed to protect the coast. it contains 300 tons of diesel and fuel as well. that won't be pumped out until the search for the missing is complete. they may have to wait until the end of the week. for kevin, it's excruciating. his brother russell was a waiter on board and was last seen

. >> there are already bodies, schettino. >> how many dead bodies are there? >> i don't know.w of one. i've heard of one. you are the one to tell me how many there. christ! >> so, obviously, a very frustrated coast guard there, talking to a captain who appeared a little detached and who had clearly, you know, at this point, appeared to kind of failed his passengers. later on in the transcripts that we've read and the recordings we've listened to, the captain says that he didn't sort of get off the ship, abandon it on purpose. he says that as the ship listed over to one side, he was catapulted off the bridge. so that may have been one explanation. it will be for the prosecutors, the investigators now looking at this to determine what actually happened, michael. >> and matthew, there has already been a court hearing and a ruling. tell us about that. and as we know, the italian judicial system is not known for its speed. >> no. and this could take many months before the full outcome of this investigation is known. but captain schettino, who commanded the "costa concordia," has be

she did not believe that captain schettino was a risk flight. or repeat the crime over charges that he's facing at least. so she thought that the house arrest here with his family was the most appropriate way of detaining him. that may change, however. because there is such outrage across many other parts of the world as well that this guy is just under house arrest. this appeal may be lodged and if successful he could be back behind bars within days. >> matthews, is there something that we're missing in this story? we certainly don't want to condemn someone before they are found guilty. but how is he explaining his own behavior, especially in light of the audiotapes that we heard, which really made him sound like he was just thinking about himself, that he had abandoned people and had missed his dessert or something. >> reporter: well, of course it's important to remember he's not even been charged with manslaughter or abandoning his ship or causing a ship wreck. those are the charges he faces should the investigation determine that there's eno

schettino was essentially in a life boat. who knows if it was possible to get back on board. listen, if anything is clear at this point, prosecutors are livid with the notion that he is on house arrest right now. they've already announced that they're going to appeal this and suggest that he be jailed instead awaiting the charges. >> is there a law in italy that a captain has to stay on that ship until he or she knows that every passenger is safe? >> that's an awesome question because we all sort of harken back to titanic where we saw the captain valiantly going down with the ship. it's a thing of legend. while there is that charge of abandoning ship, there is no law that you have to go down with the ship. to your point, and you make a good one, you can't just leave when all those other people were in need. so that's something they're going to have to really assess. he certainly did say multiple times on that tape with port authority that he had abandoned ship. but then, kyra, he also called it catapulted. if you saw the angle of the ship like i did, i could easily see people

where was the captain schettino after it hit the rock. he was allegedly with a woman ordering dinner. >> the captain insisted on having a meal at 10:30. he arrived with a woman who i didn't recognize. we wondered what was going on. at that time, we really felt something was wrong. the stuff in the kitchen was falling off shelves and we realized how grave it was. i had 12 years of experience as a cook on a cruise ship, i even witnessed fire so i wasn't that scared, but i wondered what the captain was doing, why was he still there. way gave him his drink. after that, he was waiting for the dessert to be served to the woman he was with. >> waiting for dessert, he was waiting for dessert while his ship was sinking. he would later desert the ship. his latest excuse was he tripped and fell into the life boat. first he denied it. then he told the coast guard he could better coordinate the rescue from there. the commander went ballistic, ordered him to get back on board. he never did. he said he tripped, fell, stumbled, and fell into a lifeboat a

recordings the moment the ship ran aground araising fresh questions about the ship's captain francesco schettinoe port authority captain you're hearing there has become something of a hero in italy with that line "get on board dammit," talking to the captain of the costa concordia. on the website, the cruise company costa cruises describes the concordia as a temple of floating fun. >> reporter: the costa concordia is owned by carnival, the world's largest passenger ship company. taking a cruise can be an affordable way to visit multiple countries, but attorney james walker, who has been involved in litigation against the cruise line industry, says there have been an increasing number of accidents and mishaps. >> if you go back over the past -- just over the past two or three years, you'll see about 15 major groundings, collisions, and fires. there have been a number of cruise ship fires in the fleet. perhaps the most spectacular was the fire on the star princess. >> reporter: the star princess in 2006 operated by carnival and carrying 2,600 passengers caught fire. one passenger died and more tha

i'm also curious in this case, captain schettino could be charged with manslaughter, did he have a recordwould show up? >> there's no place to go for the public for that type of organization. there is something called international cruise victims.org, where you can go and read stories about different types of injuries, sexual assaults, crimes, grounds and fires, that's a pretty good source to go to. there's also a professor in canada, ironically enough, professor ross klein, who has a website called crewsjunky.com, kind of a silly name but has valuable source of information. the cruise line industry are not going to tell you about all the bad things. they want you to come aboard and have a good time. >> right. >> if you look back in the past two to three years, there have been 15 major wash amounts, grounds, collisions and fires, primarily with the carnival cruise line, the carnival splendor a year ago, had a major catastrophe, with an engine room fire, it was disabled international waters off the coast of mexico. our u.s. coast guard and navy, we had to send and aircraft carrier out ther

she defends her husband, francesco schettino, and she says he's a maestro that knows how to do his job, that he's being made into a scapegoat. >>> by the way, a 16th body has been recovered from the cruise ship. 17 are still missing. >>> a very emotional morning there on capitol hill today. congresswoman gabrielle giffords formally resigned from congress. she gave up her seat to focus on her recovery after being shot in her head at a rally in tucson just last year. her good friend and colleague, debbie wasserman schultz read her letter on the house floor. >> always i fought for what i thought was right, but never did i question the character of those with whom i disagreed. never did a pass up an opportunity to join hands with someone just because he or she held different ideals. >> also today a private funeral this afternoon for ledgendary penn state coach joe paterno. thousands stood in line yesterday just to file past his casket. a public service will be held tomorrow in a 16,000-seat arena on campus. the 85-year-old died two months after being accused of being involved in the scanda

captain schettino is actually under house arrest tonight. italian authorities are considering charges of manslaughter as well as abandoning ships. he comes from a family of sailors, the question is, will he be the only one held accountable. paul cowen is a new york city prosecutor. what do you think is going to happen here? he's admitted he made a navigational error. he says he did not abandon ship and that audiotape did not play fairly. what real grounds are there here to hold him personally accountable? >> i think there is strong grounds to support a manslaughter case, a ship wreck case. an abandoned ship case. you have a black box on the ship which would demonstrate severe navigational errors and you know, navigating by sight so close to land in a ship of this size is just on its face a reckless, reckless act. it sounds like the italians have a relatively strong case against the captain. >> now, you mentioned going this close to land. just to play a video for you that shocked us. and everybody. take a look at this. this is today. you can

there was the captain, francisco schettino? he was allegedly with a woman ordering dinner.slator: the captain insisted on having a meal around 10:30. he arrived with a woman i didn't recognize. at that time i was with a colleague, another cook jason velasco and we wondered what was going on. we felt something was wrong. the stuff in the kitchen was falling off shelves and we realized how grave the situation was. you would not believe it. i have had 12 years of experience on a cruise ship. i have witnessed fires so i wasn't that scared but i wondered what the captain was doing. why was he still there. we gave him his drink. after that he was still waiting for dessert to be served for the woman he was with. >> waiting for dessert. so the cook claims the captain was waiting for dessert while his ship was sinking. he later abandoned the ship with crew and passengers aboard. his last explanation was he tripped and fell into the lifeboat. first he denied it. then told a coast guard commander talking to him from the lifeboat he could better coordinate from there. that's what his a

captain schettino is actually under house arrest tonight.lian authorities are considering charges of manslaughter as well as abandoning ships. he comes from a family of sailors, the question is, will he be the only one held accountable. paul cowen is a new york city prosecutor. what do you think is going to happen here? he's admitted he made a navigational error. he says he did not abandon ship and that audiotape did not play fairly. what real grounds are there here to hold him personally accountable? >> i think there is strong grounds to support a manslaughter case, a ship wreck case. an abandoned ship case. you have a black box on the ship which would demonstrate severe navigational errors and you know, navigating by sight so close to land in a ship of this size is just on its face a reckless, reckless act. it sounds like the italians have a relatively strong case against the captain. >> now, you mentioned going this close to land. just to play a video for you that shocked us. and everybody. take a look at this. this is today. you can see

. >> reporter: the ship's captain, schett ti schettino may face manslaughter charges. some saw him boarding a lifeboat before they wear able to evacuate. he could face 15 years in prison. on italian television, he said he and his crew were the last to leave the ship and the rocks they hit were not marked on his map. still, why he took this massive ship so close to the rocky shore is unclear. an investigation is under way while concern grows over the fate of the missing. the rescuers say could still be trapped in the ship's partially flooded compartments. >> dan join us now just on shore from the crippled liner and also joining us is butch hendrick, president of life guard operations and 30 years in maritime operations. how could those on the ship not realize those hazards were there. they had made this route an awful lot, hadn't they? >> reporter: they had. i think perhaps that led to the complacency of the captain. they had a habit of going very close to the port showboating, effectively to show off to their friends on the island, apparently. this time, they got very

it will stay in the united states because carnival owns the ship, is that number one, francesco schettinoe captain, on one hand says, well, i've fallen down and i can't get up and he fell right into a life boat, which is not very credible. secondly, they got him on tape saying i upped and left. and secondly, and i think more compelling, is that under maritime law, you're supposed to contact the coast guard immediately. costa which owns the boat, owns the ship and the captain admit that no one contacted the coast guard for 73 minutes. that's extremely compelling and it may be effective in getting around the kind of fine print that richard is talking about. >> avery, let me ask you, why file in state court in florida and not federal court, if the case eventually does come to the united states? what's the benefit to doing it in state court? >> mostly because it's easier. i frankly would have chosen a federal forum, but i understand that by trying to convince a state court judge to keep the case, based on this florida-based company, many of the procedures that are required in the federal cour

also, today, we got our first look at an interview that the concordia captain, schettino, did a day after the grounding. in it, he maintains that the rock he hit was not on the map. >> i don't know if it was detected or not, but on the nautical chart it was marked just as waiter at some 100 to 150 meters from the rocks, and we were about 300 meters from the shore more or less. we should not have had this contact. there were more than 4,000 people and you were able to rescue everyone. the captain is usually the last one to abandon ship. what happened, captain? >> we were the last to leave the ship. >> last night, we showed you why that simply is not so. his own phone calls to the coast guard from the life boat during the evacuations is truth enough. his story has changed since the interview. he's saying, you might want to sit down for this. he said he somehow tripped and fell into a life boat. not kidding. tripped and fell into a life boat, got stuck in the life boat along with the rest of his senior officers. as for the rock he hit, we got the first up close look at it, and it, too, is br

. >> i called him captain schettino, the captain that fled the ship in italy, that's our own president is fleeing the american people and not doing his job and running around the country and campaigning. >> and let's talk about the olympics straight ahead. the london games almost here. less than six months until the december games. opening ceremony, we'll talk about how london is getting ready to welcome the world. are they ready yet? let me give you a little quiz while we're waiting for those answers. which city in the world has hosted the summer games the most times? talking about the entire history of the olympic games. might it be paris, athens, london, or los angeles? think about it. think. and we'll be right back with an answer. >>> a minute ago, i asked you which city in the world hosted the summer olympic games the most. paris, athens, london or los angeles? which one did you guess? if you guessed london, then you would be right. it has had opening ceremonies twice already and then come this year, for the third time, july 27th to be exact is when the games will begin. london wi

there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship's master, captain francesco schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences. the captain is under arrest now. he could face charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. but he is defending himself today and you will hear that in just a moment as well. sadly though, crews today found two elderly people dead near the ship's restaurant. life vests still strapped around their bodies. that brings the death toll inside the ship to five. rescuers did pull out a south korean couple who were trapped for more than 24 hours. they're newlyweds on perhaps the worst honeymoon of all time. 17 people are still unaccounted for according to the island's mayor. >>> the ship is tipped on its side almost halfway submerged with a gash in the hull that's longer than half a football field. dan rivers took a boat from the island out to the ship and gives us some of the closest images yet of the destruction. >> reporter: with an open gash running the length of her portside, the costa concordia looks like it's been gutted by a giant fisherman

months, this is all going to be ancient history, and we're going to talk about our own little captain schettinois president obama who's abandoning the ship here in the united states and is more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president. >> while republicans occupy center stage in the political arena, the president's re-elect team continues to tune up, mostly on mitt romney. >> he has a great track record of creating wealth for himself and his partners. and he's done it by closing 1,000 plants and stores and offices around the country. he's done it by outsourcing jobs. he's done it by profiting, by loading companies down with debt and then putting them into bankruptcy on which he and his partners made hundreds of millions of dollars. >> and surprise, surprise, donald trump says he's still thinking about running for president as an independent. a statement the democratic party chairwoman translated as a sign of weak innocence the republican roster. >> i think just the fact that he says that is emblematic of the unacceptablity of the entire republican field. >> just 281 days until

also today, we got our first look at an interview that the "concordia's" captain, francesco schettino did a day after the ground. he says the hit was not on the navigational system nor marked on his map. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: i don't know if it was detected or not, but on the nautical chart, it was marked just as water at some 100 to 150 meters from the rocks and we were about 300 meters from the shore, more or less. we shouldn't have had this contact. >> translator: there were more than 4,000 people and you were able to rescue nearly everyone. the captain is usually the the last one to abandon the ship. what happened, captain? >> translator: we were the last to leave the ship. >> well, last night we showed you why that simply is not so. his phone phone call to the coast guard from a lifeboat during the evacuation is proof enough. his story, by the way, has changed since that interview. he's now saying, you might want to sit down for this. he's now saying he somehow tripped and fell into a lifeboat. not kidding. tripped and fell into a lifeboat and got stuck in

under schettino's orders, the ship was off course by four myles. >> this is someone who has shown no remorse for his own responsibility. he has to be held accountable because he ultimately was directly responsible for the death of 32 people on his ship. >> reporter: in all, schettino is charged with 32 counts of involuntary manslaughter, causing a maritime disaster. the personal injury of 150 passengers badly hurt and abandoning ship. the trial is expected to last through the fall. kate and chris. >> all right, erin, thanks so much for the update. last through the fall. this will drag on and on. >> absolutely. >>> coming up, for thousands, the concern will be paychecks. one republican senator could be standing in the way of a solution. john king here to break it down in this morning's political gut check. >>> also ahead, a heartwarming reunion, a father meeting his teenage son for the very first time, 13 years after the boy was abducted as an infant. wait until you hear who the police have in custody. ommended. [ male announcer ] for certain medical conditions where straining should

a judge decided that schettino can remain under house arrest.im speechless. >>> more han 114,000 gross tons. it's an understatement to say that removing it won't be easy. here's cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: wolf, a key question is what they'll do with the "costa consequence cordia," and we talked to some florida experts. it lies there as a stark symbol of tragedy. getting that removed from the consciousness of victims and nearby residents, that means the cost of getting the concordia officially removed. that may start with a place like this? >> this is the drill for the hot top. it has a magnet, and the diver goes down, puts it on the hull. >> reporter: the hot tap, used for siphons fuel, part of an impressive menu of heavy equipment by one of the top ship salvage operations in the u.s. how big a challenge would this be for you guys? >> as big a challenge and we've ever faced. >> reporter: this is the director of planning 'resolve. they've been scrapping ships for decades. they've refloated a cruise ship so it could operate again, sunk an airc

there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship's master, captain francesco schettino, which resulted in these grave circumstances. >> i don't know if it was detected or not. on the nautical chart it was marked as water, 100 to 150 meters from the rocks. we were 300 meters from the shore more or less. we shouldn't have had this contact. >> what's amazing in this story, not only are the prosecutors in italy considering manslaughter charges against the captain, they've now also got the first officer being detained as well on similar types of charges. it's incredible that what people are saying on board, it was mass chaos, it was every man for himself. >> these are live pictures that we're showing you of the ship. you know, another thing that strikes me, ashley, as rather interesting is that the ship apparently sailed at 7:00 p.m. within 24 hours they are supposed to do these drills. it was schedule for 5:00 p.m. i'm curious why that long wait to schedule a drill that is so vitally important in case of an emergency like this. >> i heard something fascinating as well. when

captain schettino's story appears human, all too human, it says. possibly a vein, glorious man who panicked at the one crucial moment of his career and who will now spend the rest of his life in a state of bitter remorse and regret. the captain still has a lot of very tough questions to answer. his friends and his family are defending him, but survivors and families of victims are absolutely furious as are so many people who are horrified learning of things today, for example, the details about having dinner after the ship struck rocks. kyra? >> zain verjee out of london, thanks. >>> stories happening cross-country now. just outside of reno, nevada, 10,000 people evacuated because of these wild fires including vice president joe biden who had to cut a speech short as the fire neared the building where he was. so far one person has been killed. firefighters have stopped the fire's progress, they say, and they're now fighting the hot spots. >>> in new brunswick, new jersey, the pretrial hearing for former rutgers student darren rabi gets underway tod

k0according to that cook th you mentioned, a filipino cook, his testimony suggesting that the captain schettino collision. here's what the cook said. >> the captain insisted on having a meal around 10:30. he arrived with a woman who i didn't recognize. i did wonder, though, what the captain was doing, why was he tell there. anyway, we gave him his drink. after that he was also still waiting for the dessert to be served to the woman he was with. >> reporter: the woman has mentioned there appears to be this mwoman 25 years old who isa costa employee but she wasn't actually working on this leg of the voyage. she bought her own ticket to continue on having finished her duties on the previous leg to spend time with her colleagues and friends. now, she's come out and started speaking as well. here's what she is saying about the captain's actions. >> translator: i've heard in rush media that the captain left the ship first or among the first, but this is not true. i'm a witness. i don't know if i'm invited to testify in the court or not but as a witness, i can say that i left the deck at 23:50 followi

the kind of language that the chairman of the rnc yesterday comparing president obama to captain schettino. >> we're going to have an interview with republican senator marco rubio. curious to know if he really wants to be vp or sit it out and wait until 2016. i think he might. >> hang in there. >> hang in there. >> what does he mean? >> exactly. we'll parse through that. we have other headlines making news this morning. christine romans who turns 25 stod today is joining us with those. good morning, sunshine. >> nice of you to remember. thanks. u.s. drone strikes have taken out nine suspected al qaeda militants. they say the strikes were targeted in southern yemen and others taken over with links to al qaeda. >>> secretary of state hillary clinton goes to the u.n. today to press the security council on a resolution condemning syrian president bashir al-assad and calling him him to step down. clinton says it could destabilize the region more. >>> this as the u.n. says more than 5,000 people killed in syria over the last ten months. security council will hear from the head of the arab league

months this is all going to be ancient history and we're going to talk about our own little captain schettinodent obama, who's abandoning the ship here in the united states and is more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president. >> inappropriate? you're talking about a tragedy that's claimed lives while they were still trying to fish bodies out of the ship? >> well, first of all, clearly our hearts and prayers go out to folks that are either missing, perished, injured, terrible, terrible piece of the story, but i also made it very clear, soledad, and if you're being fair, that even when i mentioned you cut the clip off, even when i mentioned it, i couched it to the discussion that we were having that a president who's more interested in campaigning and worried about his own job instead of the millions of people that are out there and out of work is something that i think that the american people need to think about. i made it very clear in the analogy. >> all right. all right. i just want you to explain to me -- >> fairly say -- >> i try to be fair with everyone. i have to go b

. >> reporter: i would say there's outrage that captain francesco schettino is home south of naples right now. he was whisked away from the jail at 2:00 a.m. local time, arrived at his home in naples, and that's where he'll stay until the judge makes another decision. the prosecutor is livid. he's made comments this morning to a number of reporters that he's going to try to get the captain back in jail. yesterday at a hearing, the judge made a decision not to make a decision about whether or not he should stay in jail for the duration of the investigation. and between the time she made that decision and this morning, he was let go on house arrest. that doesn't mean he's going to stay there for the duration, but it's where he is right now. as the workers in giglio are braving dangerous conditions and stormy seas to try to conduct the rescue operations. >> barbie, the transmissions that we've been listening to between the captain and the port authority have been absolutely remarkable, more than anyone assumed could be. i'm wondering if there's talk in italy right now about just how guilty t

the captain, frances kuo schettino is facing manslaughter charges. bla blackbox data is expected to be revealed during this week's hearings. >> the detroit tigers now halfway to the world series. they beat the new york yankees, 3-0 on sunday. that's the second game of their american league championship series. the tigers winning the first two games on the road. game three tomorrow in detroit. >>> the st. louis cardinals drew first blood in the nlcs beating the giants, 6-4. they'll play game two tonight. >> watch out for those cardinals. last team to sneak into the playoffs. did it last year. did it again this year. i don't know. >>> six minutes after the hour. >>> felix baumgartner rose to the edge of space, 24 miles up and jumped. i broke the sound barrier on the way down. no one has ever done that outside of a vehicle and for a few scary moments during this free fall baumgartner spun wildly but he says he managed to stabilize himself. >> started spinning so violent, spun me around in all different areas and i was always trying to figure out how to

. >> so the captain of the share is named francisco schettino, and here is what he told the media inow if it was detected or not, but it was marked just as water. and we were about 300 meters from the shore more or less. we shouldn't have had this contact. >> so it sounds like he is saying that it was some kind of technical error, either the gps didn't work or the maps were wrong. what do you think of that, robert? >> 100 meters from shore and 150 meters from shoal water, and the ship is about 300 meters long. so, you know, it's an open bay at the end of the day. you know, if the ship was even slightly off course or had any mismatch on the runner systems or anything really went wrong, they would have immediately been in abextremitiities extreme situation. so they had plenty of room to leave that bay. there's no reason a prudent mariner would have put himself in that situation. you know, if something went wrong, they would have been on the rocks. or if they had been -- if their navigation had been slightly off, they would have been on the rocks which was exact he what happened. >> if

we have a report that captain schettino called his boss before talking to the coast guard.tocol you call the coast guard first? >> no. the protocol is to make sure you get your passengers to their boat stations and everybody is ready to abandon ship and get the people off the ship before he starts making phone calls. he could have had somebody else making those phone calls rather than himself. he needs to stay innen kmad of the vessel, not be distracted by making phone calls. >> if i could switch gears a little bit. they are worried about an environmental problem here. there are fears that the fuel will leak out from the ship's wreck. it ran aground a 30,000 square mile zone that's designated a marine mammal sanctuary. are you concerned about that? >> oh, certainly. this ship is in an unstable condition. at any time, something really catastrophic could happen. it could go into deeper waters with be she could break in half with the wave action that's coming in with this storm. this is a major, major concern. >> captain jim staples, thank you for taking time this morning. >>