Quote:
Originally Posted by azazel1024
Except if you look at the charges against the captain, he is charged with abandoning ship.
quote, "According to Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons ship before others are safe can face up to 12 years in prison"
So, actually according to Italian law, there IS a requirement that the captain of a ship does not abandon ship until others are safe. Under the laws of a lot of other nations, the captain probably could be convicted of negligence, manslaughter, abandonment or a number of other crimes if they abandon ship before resonably attempting to ensure the evacuation of the passengers and crew first. In general a captain does not need to go down with their ship, but if it is "every man for themself, I am getting of this thing!", then they likely will be facing charges.
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Captains are also personally responsible for regular conduct of safety drills and mapping out emergency evacuation procedures. If there's a failure, the Captain can be investigated for not conducting those drills in the manner required of him.
The housekeeping and catering staff are generally important components of these procedures. They're generally supposed to be the ones helping the crew guide the passengers according to set procedures. One of the waiters who made it back home is on record having stated that they were lucky the accident occurred when it did, and not later. Apparently, a couple of hours later the catering staff would have been drunk off their asses, because they had a private party of their own planned. They would have been in no fit state to respond effectively to an emergency. Such parties were regular and were 'institutionalised' with the knowledge of the Captain.