Costa Concordia captain files second appeal from jail after eight years.
The captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia cruise ship is back in the news, 13 years after the ship's loss made global headlines. Italian media reports that Francesco Schettino, now 64, has filed a petition with Italian courts seeking early release from his 16-year prison sentence.
Schettino captained the cruise ship, owned by Carnival Corporation's Costa Cruises. The ship, which was only six years old, was built by Fincantieri and delivered in 2006. It was a 114,500 gross ton vessel with a capacity of 3,780 passengers and 1,100 crew, and was on a week-long cruise in the Western Mediterranean.
On January 13, 2012, the Concordia set out from Civitavecchia, Italy, but Captain Schettino decided to deviate from its normal course to make a "salute" near the island of Giglio. He later blamed the ship's malfunctions, crew problems, and misunderstandings of commands, among other problems, while it was claimed that he was distracted by other people on the bridge.
The infamous Schettino left the bridge along with other officers. He later claimed that he fell from the listing ship or that he went ashore to direct the evacuation. A famous recording surfaced of the coast guard yelling and cursing at him and ordering him to get back on board the ship. The cruise ship capsized, leaving passengers to survive on their own and climb over the hull and down ladders in a rescue operation organized by the coast guard.
In February 2015, Schettino was sentenced to 16 years in prison for dereliction of duty, multiple counts of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning passengers. His appeals were rejected in 2017. He was sentenced to serve time in a prison in Rome.
An Italian court has set a hearing for March 4 on a new appeal to decide whether to release Schettino from prison.
