A particularly egregious fib is one told by Schetttino to authorities calling him from Porto Santo Stefano. At 12:40 a.m., there is an effort by shore officials to find out how many people were left on board. Schettino said the figure was 200 to 300. The coast guard called again 10 minutes later and Schettino said the figure was lower: "I've called the ship owners, and they tell me that about 40 people are missing." In fact, many hundreds of passengers were still on board.
After the second call, the coast guard, amazed at the rapidity in which the evacuation had proceeded, asked Schettino if he was on board. He replied: "No. I'm not on board because the bows of the ship are coming up. We've abandoned her."
Coast guard: "What do you mean? You've abandoned ship?"
