Posted at: 10/17/2012 10:15 AM
Updated at: 10/17/2012 10:25 AM
By: Leslie Dyste
Print Story
Email to a Friend3rd Day of Preliminary Hearings in Italian Shipwreck
The Captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia, arrived for the third day of preliminary hearings on Wednesday, appearing calm and composed as he entered the backdoor of the Teatro Moderno in Grosetto, Italy.
ABC News reports over the past two days experts have been explaining the analysis of the
black-box recorder taken from the stricken vessel, which recorded the discussions on the command desk throughout the incident.
The experts, who included two admirals and two engineers, laid most of the blame for the collision with the reef and the botched evacuation on Francesco Schettino.
But they also noted that not all crew members understood Italian, not all had current safety and evacuation certifications, and not all passengers had had the chance to participate in evacuation drills.
Thirty-two people died after Schettino took the Costa Concordia cruise ship off course and brought it close to the Tuscan island of Giglio on 13 January
2012. The ship then ran aground and capsized.
This week's hearings will help decide whether the judge will order a trial for Schettino, who is accused of manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship while passengers and crew were still aboard.
He denies the accusations and hasn't been charged.
Any trial is unlikely to begin before next year.
The Associated Press Contributed to this Report.
