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Italian Authorities Arrest Cruise Captain After Shipwreck Kills 3

Catherine Green |
January 14, 2012 | 1:40 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

Similar to the ship pictured, the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia crashed Friday night just off the western coast of Italy. (Flickr)
Similar to the ship pictured, the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia crashed Friday night just off the western coast of Italy. (Flickr)
Police have taken into custody the captain of an Italian cruise ship that ran aground Friday night, killing three people and injuring at least 20 others. The coast guard reported between 50 and 70 people are still missing.

CNN reported Saturday investigators in Porto Santo Stefano were interrogating Capt. Francesco Schettino about the specifics of the crash that landed a 4,200-passenger ship on the rocks off Italy's western coast.

From the CNN report:

Authorities were looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, officials said. The ship is owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises.

"At the moment we can't exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn't send a mayday. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing," Del Santo said prior to the announcement of the arrest.

… Gianni Onorato, president of Costa Cruises, expressed "deep sorrow for this terrible tragedy," but said the cruise line was unable to answer all the questions that authorities are now investigating.

"On the basis of the initial evidence — still preliminary — Costa Concordia, under the command of Master Francesco Schettino, was sailing its regularly scheduled itinerary from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when the ship struck a submerged rock," Onorato said in a statement before the announcement of the captain's announcement.

"Captain Schettino, who was on the bridge at the time, immediately understood the severity of the situation and performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew, and initiated security procedures to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation," he continued.

"Unfortunately, that operation was complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship that made disembarkation difficult," Onorato said.

A prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy, said the captain may face charges of abandoning ship and manslaughter, though abandoning ship is "the more serious of the potential charges."

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