Costa Concordia: No one took charge of rescue effort, says Italian official He managed to start hauling people out of water-logged corridors and then helped others climb down into life boats. "When the boat started listing, all the corridors filled with water," he told the BBC World Service. They were like wells and there was a lot of people stuck in these wells. Using a rope, I started to pull people up. They were crying and were really scared. It was a purser of the ship who was helping me and we rescued about nine people. People were fighting with each other in order to get on the rope to climb up. I can't condemn them because the situation was really bad. It was really dramatic. Eventually, he located a young, second-class officer on the ship's bridge who had found a step ladder that they used to help people climb down. "We were together shoulder to shoulder until 5:30 in the morning," he said. I have to say this young officer was wonderful. He hadn't been given any orders; he was just following his own orders. It was very difficult as there was some oil around, so climbing down the steps and on to the ladder was extremely slippery. For children and old people, it was especially difficult. This officer was very good but he was the only officer I met. The ship's captain, Francisco Schettino, 52, has been accused of abandoning the ship whilst passengers and crew were still on board. He has claimed that he tripped and fell into a lifeboat by mistake.