The Captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which crashed in January, admits that he was distracted when the deadly incident occurred, but he's putting the blame on everyone but himself.
Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia revealed that he was distracted by a phone call before the ship crashed into a reef off the coast of Tuscany. "I blame myself for being distracted," Schettino said in a television interview with Italy's Canale 5.
Despite his confession over being distracted by the call, Schettino will not accept all of the blame. He denies charges of manslaughter and causing the wreck because he also believes another officer should get the blame. Schettino insisted that he wasn't the one controlling the ship when it crashed into the reef, which led to 32 people killed.
Before the incident, Schettino claims that he had dinner with friends and then he went up to the bridge. However, he didn't take charge upon his return. He said the ship was being steered by a fellow officer.
"I went up to the bridge. I ordered the navigation to be manual, and I didn't have the command. The navigation was being directed by another officer," Mr Schettino said in the interview, as quoted by The Telegraph.
Prosecutors believe that the ship was brought too close to land as part of a publicity stunt. The ship was steered toward Giglio as a salute to Schettino's former colleague who lived on the island. The phone call he was making was to his retired sea captain friend.
Although Schettino claims he wasn't controlling the ship at the time, voice recordings on the ship's black box suggest differently.
The Telegraph released some of the messages of panic on the bridge as the ship hit the reef.
An unidentified officer can be heard saying "Our a--- is dragging along the seabed!" This officer gave orders for the watertight doors of the ship to be closed.
Schettino is then heard saying "What did we hit?" to which an unidentified officer replied: "The reef."
Another officer makes a reference to the salute that left them to bringing the ship too close to land.
Schettino calls Roberto Ferrarini, an officer of the emergency department for Costa Cruises.
"Roberto, I f----- up!" he said, according to the transcript. "Look, I'm dying here, don't tell me anything."
The captain then tries to blame his sea captain friend, Mario Palombo, saying that he wanted him to do the close sail-by.
"It was Palombo who said to me 'pass close by, pass close by'. I did pass close by and I hit shallow water with the stern. I did it to keep him happy. I'm really devastated."
Information from the black box will be used to determine whether or not Schettino should go to trial. He is under investigation for multiple counts of manslaughter, abandoning the ship before it had been fully evacuated and failing to communicate properly with the maritime authorities.
In the interview, Schettino apologizes for the incident and expresses his sorrow over losing the ship and the loss of life in the tragedy. Last week, his house arrst order was lifted.
Salvage crews are in the process of removing the ship off the coast of Giglio. The removal process may take up to a year.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
