Domnica Cermotan aka Dominica Cermotan Denies Francesco Schettino Abandonment
LOS ANGELES (LALATE) – Domnica Cermotan aka Dominica Cermotan, dubbed la donna de Francesco Schettino by Italian news, released photos and a news statement on her Facebook account defending the Costa Concordia captain. But Domnica Cermotan (fotos below) has now granted her first news video interview about Schettino. In it, Domnica claims that Schettino did not abandon his ship during the Costa Concordia accident.
Domnica Cermotan has yet to detail her exact relationship with Francesco Schettino. But she tells news that she has known the captain for years. After she initially issued a news statement on her Facebook account, Domnica Cermotan later granted a news interview to JurnalTV Channel 7 in her native Moldova. The interview, which has yet to be translated to English, was carried on Italian broadcast TV news today.
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In the video, Channel7 refers to Domnica as a “survivor”, rather than a crew member or passenger. In fact, the 25-year old Moldovan claims she was working as a hostess, an employee of Costa on the Concordia, on the boat.
But she tells news that she wasn’t working the night of the Costa Concordia accident. Rather, she claims she was with Schettino, the cruise director and other crew members, on the bridge, when the ship ran a rock.
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Initially, Domnica Cermotan told news that she was dining with Schettino in a glass room next to the bridge. But after terror erupted, she claimed she was summoned to provide translation services to evacuating Russian-language passengers.
She told the channel “We were looking for them, searching for them (the Russians).” She added “We heard them all crying, shouting in all languages.”
Domnica Cermotan defends Schettino. Initial witnesses claimed that Schettino was in the boat’s bar at the time of the crash. Domnica says that is false. She tells news that Schettino and other crew members were on deck when the crash happened. Moreover, she claims she was at one point in an abutting glass room; from inside she still observed Schettino on deck.
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Domnica Cermotan was registered to be on the ship, Costa officials confirmed to news today. Costa would not confirm her status, however. But it has agreed to turn over all logs concerning her status while on board to Italian prosecutors.
Domnica says claims that Schettino was in the bar are false. As to abandoning she ship, she said “he did a great thing, he saved over 3,000 lives”. She claims she has first had knowledge that he remained on deck until 11:50 p.m. Coast guard officials, who released Schettino’s audiotape earlier this week, disagreed.
Yet, Humberto Morales, a Peruvian crew member, has denounced Schettino. In an interview with his local news, he told Lima press today that Schettino was a “cobardia” (coward). Morales told news that the ship sank because of “human error”.
Morales claims Schettino was to blame for the chaos in the evacuation. “Everything was in chaos, we went down to the vest (PFD) and I already said the ship was sinking.” Morales was unavailable to be questioned about Domnica. But he said there was no one helping passengers evacuate, unlike Domnica claims. “The waiter and I went to board the second boat, pull the strings, was a terrible job, worked at the time, the chaos, people screaming, crying and I had to reassure them.”
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Domnica’s testimony conflicts also with testimony by witnesses. They claim they saw Schettino in the bar at the time of the accident with two moment.”I was with my wife at exclusive restaurants, at 21.15 I saw the captain get embraced with two girls: one blonde and one with dark hair. He showed them the window.” Those witnesses have not yet been shown Domnica’s photo to determine if she was the blonde woman they spotted. The video interview, not in English, is located here.
