Stricken liner’s captain to remain under arrest

An Italian court has ruled that Francesco Schettino, the captain of the cruise liner that ran aground and capsized off the island of Giglio, killing at least 17 people, must remain under house arrest.

Schettino was arrested the day after the Jan 13 disaster, accused of manslaughter and abandoning the 114,000-tonne Costa Concordia before all the 4,200 passengers and crew were evacuated.

He admitted to prosecutors that he sailed too close to the island and was released from prison and placed under house arrest on Jan 17.

In confirming that he must remain under house arrest, the Florence court rejected the pleas of both the prosecutors, who argued that he should return to prison, and Schettino’s lawyer, who had requested that he be completely set free.

Last week, authorities called off the search for bodies on the ship, after recovering 17 corpses. Fifteen people are still unaccounted for.

The hulk of the Costa Concordia is still lying on its side on a rocky ledge less than 100 metres from the Giglio shoreline and salvage crews are pumping the 2,300 tonnes of fuel from the vessel to try to avoid an environmental disaster.

Yesterday, the head of Italy’s civil protection authority said the ship would not be removed for at least seven to 10 months.

According to calculations by Italian newspapers, Schettino could face a sentence of more than 2,500 years in prison if convicted of causing a shipwreck, of abandoning his ship and of multiple counts of manslaughter.

The newspapers said he could face the jail term if convicted on all the charges which are expected to be brought against him.

He could get an eight-year jail sentence for every one of the 300 passengers and crew he allegedly abandoned, an additional 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter and a further 10 years if found guilty of causing the shipwreck.

His defence lawyers had asked for his release, saying their client should be given bail as there was minimal chance of him re-offending.

“There is no possibility of him committing the crime again because at the moment there is no possibility of him being given command of a ship,” said Salvatore Parascandola, one of Schettino’s lawyers.