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Rich tourists bribed way onto lifeboats

It was women and children last as greedy crew members on the Costa Concordia sold seats on lifeboats to filthy-rich Russians — ignoring other passengers, even injured ones, stranded on the tilting decks.

As the cruise ship sank and its captain entertained a beautiful woman on the bridge, well-heeled Russians from first class were handing out fistfuls of cash to save themselves, London’s Sun newspaper reported, quoting eyewitness testimony to prosecutors.

“The disabled were left to fend for themselves,” said one witness.

Franca Anichini, a resident of Giglio Island who went to the shore to assist survivors, told German media, “I went to the boats as I saw them coming in, expecting to see women, children and the injured.”

“All I saw were healthy men and elegant women in evening gowns who were speaking Russian.”

The shocking reports came amid a series of new developments:

* Recovery crews removed two more bodies from the ship, raising the official death toll to 15.

The two, both women, were found near the ship’s Internet cafe. Seventeen others, including an elderly American couple from Minnesota, remain unaccounted for.

* Capt. Francesco Schettino, who remains under house arrest on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship, did not test positive for alcohol and drugs, his lawyer said.

* Moments before his ship smashed into a reef off Giglio, Schettino had been distracted by his guests on the bridge, an officer, Silvia Coronika, told authorities.

“There was someone who asked which island it was and the maitre d’hotel was chatting, basically disturbing the steering, with a consequent impact on concentration,” the officer said, according to the London Daily Telegraph.

“The people who came up to the bridge with Schettino were disturbing the ship’s navigation.”

After the accident, the captain “was walking from one end of the bridge to the other in panic,” she added.

* Officials said they may have been victims of a hoax when they relayed accounts of possible stowaways aboard the ship. One of those “stowaways,” reported by a relative to have been on the Costa Concordia, had died three years earlier.