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.

Asked why he had left the ship before all the passengers had been evacuated, Schettino shouted: “You’re still talking about abandoning the ship! It means you haven’t understood a bloody thing.”

Schettino’s visit was part of a court-ordered inspection in the ongoing trial against him for manslaughter and abandoning ship — a charge that earned him the tabloid nickname “Captain Coward”.

In a recorded phone call from that dramatic night, a senior coast guard official was heard shouting at Schettino: “Get back on board!”

Schettino says that he fell onto a lifeboat as the ship keeled over and then stayed on dry land because he wanted to coordinate the evacuation from there.

“The ship contains a lot of little secrets. We have to understand what happened in a proper and honest way,” said Schettino, who had his hair slicked back and was dressed in sunglasses and a leather jacket.

“Other people have plea-bargained but I’m putting my face here,” Schettino said, touching his face, using an Italian expression for making a personal commitment. Schettino, who was himself refused a plea bargain, said: “The trial will clear everything up”.