Grim details of Concordia deaths detailed in court

The Italian court trying the captain of the Costa Concordia heard grim details about how the 32 victims of the shipwreck drowned, some after diving or falling into the sea from the capsized cruise liner when lifeboats were no longer accessible.

A court official read out the names of the deceased passengers and crew members, and described how each one died, quoting verbatim from the indictment of the Concordia’s captain, Francesco Schettino. The veteran Italian mariner is the sole defendant in the long-awaited trial, which is being held in a theatre in the Tuscan town of Grosseto.

Schettino is charged with manslaughter, causing the January 2012 shipwreck off the Tuscan island of Giglio, and abandoning ship with “hundreds of passengers and crew still aboard, unable to care for themselves or in need of coordination as the ship’s tilt increased”, the official said.