Concordia Captain "Francesco Schettino" Explaining

The captain of the Costa Concordia Francesco Schettino is under arrest and accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, according to Italian police.

Magistrates said Mr Schettino abandoned the vessel before all the passengers were taken off - a claim he denies.

The 114,500-tonne ship listed badly as the reef tore a hole the size of a tennis court in its side. At least five people died and 70 were wounded in the accident and ensuing evacuation.

Speaking to Italian television, the captain defended his reaction after the cruise ship hit the rocks: "In such a particular moment you need decision-making and to understand with lucidity what the best alternative is. In fact, I believe almost all the passengers have been rescued."

He said the rocks were not marked on any maritime charts of the area.

"What happened is that while we were moving with a tourist navigation system, as you can see by the rip (in the ship) there was a lateral rock projection.

"Even though we were sailing along the coast with the tourist navigation system I firmly believe that the rocks were not detected as the ship was not heading forward but sideways as if underwater there was this rock projection."

"I don't know if it was detected or not but on the nautical chart it was marked just as water at some 100-150 meters from the rocks and we were about 300 meters from the shore, more or less. We shouldn't have had this contact," he added.



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