The
captain of the cruise ship that wrecked off Italy’s western coast will
be questioned by authorities today at a hearing, his attorney said.
Francesco Schettino is under arrest and may face charges that include
manslaughter, shipwreck, and abandoning a ship when passengers were
still on board, according to Italian prosecutor Francesco Verusio. He
could face up to 15 years in prison. At the closed hearing, a
preliminary investigation judge will decide whether Schettino will
remain detained. The captain has not yet been questioned, but more than
100 witnesses, including passengers and crew, have been interviewed, the
prosecutor said. Italian prosecutors have ruled out a technical error
as the cause of the incident, saying the captain was on the bridge at
the time and had made a “grave error.” The head of Italy’s coast guard
said 29 people remained unaccounted for from the partially sunken cruise
ship Costa Concordia – a sharp spike from earlier estimates of the
missing. Authorities earlier believed that 16 people were unaccounted
for. At least six people are dead.
