Tragedy of musician who helped sobbing children on stricken cruise ship

Hungarian Sandor Feher’s body was found inside the wreck of the cruise liner and identified by his mother, officials said yesterday.

He was last seen on deck en route to the area where he was supposed to board a lifeboat.

Jozsef Balog, a pianist who worked with Mr Feher on the ship, said he had been wearing a lifejacket when he decided to return to his cabin to get his violin.

Survivors of the cruise liner that crashed into rocks off the Italian coast on Friday night spoke of their shock yesterday as details emerged of the captain’s conduct during the tragedy which has claimed at least 11 lives.

The numbers of passengers missing has fallen to 21 after two people were located separately in Germany but the search operation in the waters off Tuscany had to be suspended yesterday as the ship again shifted on the rock it is lodged on. There are fears it could break up if it moves too much and falls into 230ft deep water.

Extraction of the 500,000 gallons of fuel aboard the ship was expected to start last night.

British passengers have told of their disbelief at the allegations facing Captain Francesco Schettino who is said to have abandoned his ship before being ordered to return by the coastguard.

Transcripts of calls to the coastguard show Capt Schettino, 52, had claimed “everything was fine” moments before the liner keeled over.

By 12.42am, he claimed there were only about 40 people missing and said he was not on board.

In the recording, coastguard Capt Gregorio De Falco was heard shouting: “You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear?”

But Schettino resisted, saying the ship was tipping and that it was dark.

At the time, he was in a lifeboat and claimed he was co-ordinating the rescue from there.

Schettino was finally heard agreeing to reboard but it was unclear whether he did so.

The captain is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship while passengers were still stranded.

According to a transcript published in Italy’s Corriere della Sera paper, Schettino, who is under house arrest, later in the same exchange said: “I did not abandon a ship with 100 people on board, the ship suddenly listed and we were thrown into the water.”

Retired police chief inspector Ed Gurd, 64, who was on the cruise with his wife Liz, 58, said he was “surprised” the captain was ordered not to abandon the ship but had apparently already done so.

Mr Gurd, from Ringwood, Hampshire, said: “If what I have heard is true, then obviously he totally failed in his duty. I wouldn’t like to apportion blame until the facts are out but as things are emerging now, it seems more likely that he was at fault.”

Brian Page, 63, from Southampton, said: “What I think of him is unprintable, I’m so angry about it. We had no idea why the ship turned on its side.

“The whole thing is a massive cock-up.”

It is hoped there could be other similar cases to the German woman listed as missing and later found alive as hope of finding survivors in the wreck fades. Those still unaccounted for include a five-year-old Italian girl and her father, an American couple from Minnesota, several German pensioners and crew members from Peru and India.

Italian Premier Mario Monti told a Press conference in London it “could and should” have been avoided.

He also thanked the residents of Giglio for opening their doors to the 4,200 refugees who struggled ashore with nothing and were given clothes, food and shelter.

He also acknowledged concerns about the 500,000 gallons of fuel still aboard the ship.

Passenger tells of earlier crash

A YORKSHIRE woman has recounted her own ill-fated voyage on the Costa Concordia after it crashed while she was on board in November 2008.

Dawn Jackson, of Scarborough, was aboard the ship when it smashed into a dock in Sicily during a cruise, leaving passengers stranded for 15 hours.

Mrs Jackson claims they were not given safety drills, even when requested, and says Friday’s tragedy was an “accident waiting to happen”.

“I’ve been on 16 cruises in total and that was by far and away the worst,” she said.

“My husband was a ship’s captain himself, and he couldn’t believe some of the things that were going on.

“We said after that we would never go with that company again.”