14 DAY TRIAL // Italian officials have started the salvage mission of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that crashed last years in one of the deadliest boating accidents in recent history.
The wreckage has to be removed until it succumbs to pressure posed by its own weight. Once on shore, it will be demolished.
It now lies off the Tuscan island of Giglio, since it hit a reef last year. Sky News reported that the accident occurred during a maneuver meant to increase publicity for the ship, under the orders of Capt. Francesco Schettino.
32 people were killed and two more went missing and were never found after the crash on January 13, 2012.
Schettino's trial has now started, the Telegraph adds. He is being charged with manslaughter for mishandling the ship and will be held liable for abandoning the vessel before all passengers had gotten out.
He reportedly claimed to have been hit and added that he fell onto a lifeboat. If he is convicted, he will be going to jail for 15 years.
Fabio Targa, a lawyer representing passengers on the boat, has stated that the company owning the cruise ship is trying to make Schettino into a scapegoat.
“Plea bargaining is a comfortable way out,” Targa says.
“It’s scandalous that these five people will not stand trial, and shows the prosecutor has not stood by the passengers during this investigation,” said Cesare Bulgarone, a lawyer who is part of a legal alliance representing 100 passengers.
The captain's lawyer, Francesco Pepe, argues that his client should not be the only one charged after the accident.
“Schettino said he would accept a plea bargain sentence almost double the other crew members because he was the captain, but now he does not want responsibilities that are not his alone attributed to him in the trial.
“He is very professional and well prepared. Don’t forget that before the incident he commanded ships that were among the most important in the world,” Pepe stresses.