Cruise operator Costa Crociere on Friday denied claims published by Italian daily La Stampa from a former nurse on one of its ships that she had seen officers snorting cocaine as “serious lies.”
“Costa Crociere would like to point out, first of all, that the nurse who reported these serious lies was taken off the ship for disciplinary reasons,” Europe’s biggest cruise operator said in a statement.
Costa Crociere — a subsidiary of US-based world cruise giant Carnival Corporation — is the owner of the Costa Concordia luxury liner, which ran aground in Italy on Jan. 13 in a tragedy that claimed 32 lives.
The nurse reportedly worked under Francesco Schettino, who captained the Costa Concordia that fateful night, aboard a different ship, the Costa Atlantica, in 2010.
According to leaked documents from an investigation into the Costa Concordia disaster, she said she had seen “corruption, drugs and prostitution” on board.
“I saw officers taking cocaine with my own eyes,” she reportedly said.
“There are rigid measures in place on the ships in its fleet concerning safety and monitoring on the possession and use of narcotics,” Costa Crociere said.
“Any employee who is found in possession or makes use of drugs, or who traffics in them, is subjected to disciplinary procedures, taken off the ship and subsequently fired,” it added.
It also said there were strict rules on alcohol consumption.
A Costa Crociere spokesman said similar claims made by another former employee, also quoted by La Stampa, were not specific enough to respond to.
“The officers and crew were very often drunk,” the ex--employee, who worked on the Costa Concordia for two months in 2010, reportedly said.
“We often asked ourselves at parties: ‘Who would save the ship if there was an emergency?’” she said.
The daily also quoted her as saying that she had been sexually harassed by a crew member “who was totally high on drugs.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese