The captain of the Costa Concordia was not under the effects of drugs when the liner hit a rock that tore a hole in the hull and caused it to capsize near the port of Italy’s Giglio island, his lawyer said.

“You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me?” an enraged Italian coastguard chief shouted as the captain of the grounded Costa Concordia sat safe in a life raft and frantic passengers struggled to escape after the ship rammed into a reef off the Tuscan coast.

THE captain who allegedly abandoned the crippled Costa Concordia cruise liner will be released from jail and placed under house arrest.