There is an old saying about the best rifles to buy are Italian rifles….they’ve never been fired and only dropped once….and then there is the one about the thinnest book in the world…the book of Italian war heroes. The Italian captain of the run aground cruise ship seems to have abandoned his post with alarming alacrity:
Francesco Schettino had been held in jail in Grosseto, Tuscany, since Saturday but an investigating judge, Valeria Montesarchio, ruled that he should be allowed to remain under house arrest as he awaits trial on accusations of multiple manslaughter and abandoning his ship.
He lives with his wife and daughter in Sorrento, near Naples.
Capt Schettino, 52, attempted to defend his actions at the court hearing yesterday, insisting he did not flee the Concordia and claiming his actions saved “thousands of lives”.
However, the transcript of an extraordinary exchange between Capt Schettino and a port official on the night of the disaster appeared to show that he did leave the ship while passengers were still trapped on board. When asked how many people were on the Costa Concordia, he initially replied “40”, when there were hundreds still at risk. When questioned further, he admitted he was not even on the ship.
Capt Schettino is accused of steering the cruise ship too close to the island of Giglio so that his head waiter could see his family home.
