What Happened to The Captain of The Costa Concordia? – Conviction and Sentence

In January of 2012, the Costa Concordia, a cruise ship sailing for Costa Cruises, capsized off the coast of Tuscany. The accident caused 32 deaths.

The ship’s Captain, Francesco Schettino, had worked for Costa Cruises for 11 years.

When the Costa Concordia hit the rocks, she had over 3000 passengers and 1000 crew members on board.

The captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, was found guilty of manslaughter in 2016 and sentenced to sixteen years in prison in total.

He was given ten years for multiple manslaughters, five years for causing a shipwreck, and one year for abandoning the passengers at the time of the sinking.

What Role Did The Captain of The Costa Concordia Play in The Sinking of The Ship?

Schettino was the Captain in charge of the cruise and was responsible for overseeing all safety aspects of the ship and cruise, including setting the course for the ship to follow.

In the case of the Costa Concordia, Captain Schettino decided to sail closer to the coast than usual.

It’s still unclear why he did this. Schettino said that Costa Cruises had asked him to perform a sail past, but Costa Cruises say that he didn’t take the approved route.

As the ship was sailing south of the entrance to Giglio Porto harbour in Tuscany, the ship’s side hit a reef.

Schettino said that before approaching this area, he had turned off the alarm system for the navigational systems.

Schettino stated:

“I was navigating by sight, because I knew those seabeds well. I had done the move three, four times.”

Schettino

When Schettino saw waves breaking on the reef, he turned abruptly and swung the side of the ship onto the reef. It’s reported that this was approximately 300 metres from land.

When the ship first hit, Costa Cruises told passengers it was an electrical failure and would be soon fixed. Guests were told to go back to their cabins.

The ship began to list to 20 degrees, which made it difficult to launch lifeboats.

Why Did The Captain of The Costa Concordia Hit The Reef?

There are several theories as to why the Captain of the Costa Concordia hit the reef and sank the ship.

The most likely reason is that Schettino was negligent and took too many risks.

Another theory is that Schettino was distracted by a lady he had brought onboard the ship. It’s reported that the two were in a romantic relationship. She did not pay to come onboard the cruise and was with Schettino at the time of the accident. Schettino did have a wife and daughter who were not on the cruise.

Some accounts have reported that Schettino’s hair showed trace amounts of cocaine and that there was a considerable amount of cocaine on the ship as it capsized.

What Did The Captain of The Costa Concordia Do After Hitting The Reef?

The ship hit the reef at 10.12 pm, and authorities were not alerted to the problem until10.42pm – despite port officials asking the Costa Concordia if there was a problem on board.

Schettino insisted the ship was just suffering from a blackout.

It’s a maritime tradition that the Captain always goes down with his ship. The Captain should make sure that everybody else is off the ship before they disembark. Costa Concordia’s Captain didn’t do this – he decided instead to save himself instead.

He disobeyed orders from the Coastguard to go back to the ship.

Now you go to the bow, you climb up the emergency ladder and coordinate the evacuation. You must tell us how many people, children, women and passengers are there and the exact number of each category. What are you doing? Are you abandoning the rescue? Captain, this is an order, I am the one in charge
now. You have declared abandoning ship. There are already bodies…

Coastguard official Gregorio de Falco

The full conversation with Captain Schettino can be heard in the video below (English subtitles available).

By 1 am, there were still 100 passengers on the ship. (A full 90 minutes after Schettino had abandoned the ship). At 3 am, it’s estimated that 40-50 people were still on board. Thirty-two bodies were later recovered from the wreckage.

What Was The Captain of The Costa Concordia Convicted Of?

The courts had to decide why Schettino followed a different route, why a mayday wasn’t immediately called and why he abandoned the ship.

Captain Schettino was detained on suspicion of manslaughter. He was charged with causing a shipwreck caused by ‘imprudence, negligence and incompetence’.

He was also charged with abandoning 300 people who were unable to disembark the ship.

Costa Concordia Crew Convicted Crimes and Prison Times

The following crew members were found guilty following the sinking of the Costa Concordia.

Costa Concordia Crew Member	Convicted For	Prison Time
Francesco Schettino	Manslaughter, Causing a Shipwreck and Abandoning a Ship	16 Years
Roberto Ferrarini	Multiple Charges, Including Abandoning a Ship	2 Years 10 Months
Manrico Giampedroni	At least one count: Delaying an Adequate Response.	2 Years 6 Months
Ciro Ambrosio	Directing The Ship in The Wrong Direction	1 – 2 Years
Jacob Rusli Bin	Manslaughter	1 – 2 Years
Silvia Coronica	Multiple Charges Including Abandoning a Ship	1 – 2 Years

Is The Costa Concordia Captain Still in Prison?

The Captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, is still in prison for his part in the sinking. The Captain should be in prison until 2032 and is serving his sentence in Rome.

He was sentenced to 16 years in 2016. He was 54 at the time and not expected to leave prison until he is at least 70 years old.

The Costa Concordia Changed Cruising Forever

Following the sinking of the Costa Concordia, a number of safety measures were put in place.

At the time of the sinking, guests boarding a cruise had to have a safety drill within 24 hours of embarkation, this meant that guests who had embarked on the day of the accident hadn’t yet had their safety drill.

To learn more about how the accident changed the muster drill, check out this post:

What is a Muster Drill on a Cruise? Everything You Need to Know

Before You Go

Many people worry that cruise ships don’t have enough lifeboats if an emergency evacuation is needed. Rest assured, they do. Find out more here:

Do Modern Cruise Ships Have Enough Lifeboats? (Safety at Sea)

Find out about the safety improvements made onboard cruise ships after the fire onboard the Star Princess in 2006 here:

Star Princess Fire (2006) – Pictures, Cause, and Safety Improvements