GROSSETO: The captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship which crashed and sank off Italy last year will go on trial today, charged with the manslaughter of 32 people who died in the nighttime tragedy.
Francesco Schettino, dubbed “Captain Coward” by the tabloids for abandoning ship while terrified passengers were still trapped onboard, was expected in court in Grosseto, the city closest to the accident off the island of Giglio.
Up to 450 witnesses and 250 plaintiffs could be called during a trial, long-awaited by the families of the victims, although the actual start of deliberations may be postponed because of a lawyers’ strike.
Schettino, 52, faces three charges for multiple manslaughter, as well as causing environmental damage and abandoning the ship, but his defence claims more people are to blame, pointing the finger at crew members and the company. The Costa Concordia crashed into a rock off Giglio on the night of January 13, 2012 with 4,229 people from 70 countries on board, as Schettino was trying to perform a risky “salute” manoeuvre just off the Tuscan island.
The ship hit a rock, veered sharply and keeled over near the shore, sparking a panicky and delayed evacuation and a bitter confrontation between the coastguard and Schettino, who claimed he had fallen to safety into a lifeboat.
Schettino’s lawyers, Domenico and Francesco Pepe, have called 100 witnesses and pledged to show that “no single person was responsible” for the disaster. They plan to probe the role played by ship owner Costa Crociere managers, the type of steel used to build the ship, as well as the apparent malfunctioning of sealed doors and back-up generators on board.
Afp
