The tragedy of the Concordia now has a female influence, as Italian prosecutors want to interview a woman who supposedly was with Captain Francesco Schettino at dinner the night of the crash, and who may have been on the bridge around the time of the crash.
The woman in question is 25 year old Domnica Cemortan, a Moldovan national, a trained ballet dancer with a two year old daughter. Cemortan has worked on cruise ships for at least five years. She has also worked as an interpreter for Russian passengers.
There are varying reports that on this trip she: 1) wasn't listed as a passenger or crew member, or 2) had received a ticket for this cruise as a gift.
Other reports say that she was not assigned to any cabin, and that she might have been the guest of a ship's officer.
Over the weekend, she gave interviews defending Schettino's conduct, saying he saved thousands of lives. She also said that she indeed was on the bridge that night, but didn't go there until the crash.
She also claimed in her interview that the captain stayed on board the ship until shortly before midnight.
Authorities also want to know if she was the woman reportedly having dinner with the captain the night of the crash. A passenger claimed yesterday that he saw the captain having dinner and drinking from a decanter of red wine in the ship's best restaurant with an unidentified slim blonde woman and another officer shortly before the vessel hit the rocks.
Angelo Fabbri, from Savona, said that he and his wife saw Captain Schettino in the Concordia Club restaurant at 9.05pm on the evening of the accident and that he was drinking wine from a large decanter. Fabbri said that the three finished the container of win "to the drop" and that the captain had his share.
The claim that Captain Schettino had been drinking heavily directly contradicts a statement by the chairman of Costa Cruises. Pier Luigi Foschi, claimed earlier in the week that the captain was a non-drinker. All Costa officers, according to Foschi, are subject to random durg and alcohol tests.
Cemortan is now believed to be back in the Romanian capital of Bucharest. She is not thought to be infolved in any wrongdoing, but prosecutors want to question her.
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