Costa Concordia Captain Admits He Was Distracted Before Crash Near Giglio Porto Harbor

Posted in Maritime Accidents on July 12, 2012

ROME, Italy — In an interview that was broadcast on Tuesday, July 10, the captain of the shipwrecked cruiseliner Costa Concordia said he was distracted by a phone conversation shortly before the cruise liner crashed into a reef and capsized  near the harbor of Giglio Porto on June 20, 2012 killing 32 people.

Photo shows a boat with rescue workers sailing in front of the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia near the harbour of Giglio Porto June 20, 2012. REUTERS/Max Rossi.

The captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he was distracted by a phone conversation shortly before the cruise liner crashed into a reef off an Italian island and capsized, killing 32 people.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, described the crash to private Italian TV channel Canale 5 as a “banal accident” in which “destiny” played a role.

An Italian judge last week lifted Schettino’s house arrest order, but said he must remain in his hometown near Naples during a criminal investigation in which he is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the liner while many passengers and crew were still aboard.

Prosecutors have alleged that the Concordia cruised too close to the island in a publicity stunt, and shortly before it rammed the reef Schettino was on the phone with a retired sea captain on Giglio.

Schettino on Tuesday appeared to want to lessen his role, insisting that another official, and not he, was at the helm of the ship at the moment it rammed the reef.

A court hearing later this month in Tuscany on evidence in the case, including information from the ship’s “black box” data recorder, could shed light on what went wrong and on who or what is to blame, and likely will figure in a judge’s decision on whether Schettino should be ordered to stand trial.

Source: Yahoo News