Costa Concordia captain hits out at media 'frenzy'

Italian captain Francesco Schettino lashed out at a media “frenzy” after his first return to the Costa Concordia, saying people who accused him of abandoning the ship had not understood “a bloody thing”.

“There is a frenzy that is making me nervous,” Schettino told reporters in the port on Giglio Island off Tuscany where his luxury cruise liner crashed on January 13, 2012, in a tragedy that claimed 32 lives.

“You have to respect civility. I don’t have anything against you, but if you provoke me,” the infamous captain said in increasingly angry remarks accompanied by gesticulation and nervous pacing on the dockside.