AN ITALIAN courtroom packed with 500
people has heard damning evidence against
the captain of the doomed Costa Concordia,
Francesco Schettino, which included blackbox
recordings.
The hearing will determine whether the
unpopular captain will stand trial for his
actions and failures relating to the sinking of
the Concordia, and will examine the blackbox
recordings as well as a 270 page report by
experts on the incident.
Schettino, who is currently suing Costa for
wrongful dismissal, and his lawyers used the
hearing to argue that the captain was not the
only crew member to blame in the incident
and that his orders were mistaken and not
carried out.
Schettino’s lawyers also claimed the captain
was not manning the bridge when the ship
struck the reef, and that instead another crew
member was responsible.
Meanwhile the report, penned by experts
including two admirals and two engineers, laid
the lion’s share of the blame for the collision
and the poor evacuation on Schettino, and
dismissed the captains claim he was not on the
bridge, saying he assumed control of the helm
six minutes before the disaster.
The experts also noted that crew language
barriers and lack of safety training, coupled
with not all guests having had attended the
ship’s safety drills may have also played a part.
According to reports, leaked blackbox
recordings also purport to prove that the
captain delayed the evacuation, with the
revelation that he knew the ship was going
down at 9.45pm, but at 9.54pm told an officer
to inform guests that the ship had just suffered
a blackout.
