Costa Concordia captain denied plea bargain in deadly shipwreck

GROSSETO, Italy – Italian prosecutors on Tuesday rejected a plea bargain bid by the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off Italy last year, killing 32 people, defense lawyers said. Capt. Francesco Schettino is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all 4,200 passengers and crew were evacuated.Defense lawyer Francesco Pepe said Schettino had wanted to defend himself at a trial but when the five other defendants in the shipwreck off the Tuscan coast all sought plea bargains during a closed-door hearing Tuesday, his defense team decided to change strategy.

Costa Concordia captain denied plea bargain in deadly shipwreck Fox News
Costa Concordia captain back in court Reuters
Costa Concordia hearing re-opens Euronews
Francesco Schettino’s offer to plead guilty in return for a sentence of three years and four months is rejected by prosecutors. Skynews
Costa Concordia suspects want plea bargains Newstalk JB
Costa Concordia captain back in court Brisbane Times
Costa Concordia Captain Schettino sought a plea bargain, rejectedDigitalJournal.com
Plea deal for Costa Concordia captain rejected Telegraph

101 years after Titanic sinking: a comparison to Costa Concordia

two weeks shy of the 101st anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912. Naturally the date won’t get the attention that the 100 year anniversary did, but it’s worthy of note. Meanwhile, with the passage of this last year more information has come to light regarding another giant maritime disaster, the sinking, or listing over, of the Italian cruise ship, the Costa Concordia. That tragedy saw 32 passengers and crew die while

101 years after Titanic sinking: a comparison to Costa Concordia Digital Journal

Dutch Salvage company says it can refloat sunken Costa Concordia

DigitalJournal.com
The Dutch maritime company that is removing the oil from the sunken Italian cruise ship, theCosta Concordia, says it can refloat the huge ship and has put in a bid to do so. But the operation cannot be done cheaply. Royal Boskalis Westminster is only one of six companies believed to have put in bids to salvage the ship.

Read More

Cocaine found on Costa Concordia captain’s hair

DigitalJournal.com
Lawyers representing survivors of the stricken Costa Concordia luxury cruise liner said Saturday that traces of cocaine were found on a sample of the disgraced ship captain Francesco Skettino’s hair. But there were no traces of the drug within the hair strands or in his urine – which would have indicated he had used the drug. Italian consumer protection group Codacons, which represents survivors of the disaster, told the Associated Press that the results found by a court-appointed expert are “very strange”. Read More

Brother of missing Costa Concordia cook: ‘I still have hope’

DigitalJournal.com
Family of passengers and crew missing since the Italian cruise ship the Costa Concordia hit a reef last month boated to the site and threw out roses in honor of their loved ones. One man still holds out hope his brother might be alive. “I haven’t lost hope yet, anything can still happen, a miracle.”
Read More