Costa Concordia

Genoa - The captain of the cruise liner that capsized off Italy’s coast has told prosecutors the vessel’s operators, Costa Cruises, instructed him to perform a manoeuvre that brought it too close to shore, according to leaked transcripts of his questioning. Captain Francesco Schettino has been blamed for the Jan. 13 accident, in which at least 12 people died. He is under house arrest, accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all passengers were evacuated. Prosecutors say Schettino steered the vessel, which carried more than 4,200 passengers and crew, within 150 metres of the Tuscan island of Giglio to perform a manoeuvre known as a «salute» - a greeting to the islanders.

The vessel struck a rock and tipped over. It is now precariously lying on its side on an undersea ledge, half-submerged and threatening to slide into deeper waters. Costa Cruises have said they were not aware of the dangerous practice of bringing the ship so close to the shore and have suspended the captain, saying he was responsible for the disaster. But in a sign of the growing confrontation between Schettino and the ship owners, the captain told investigating magistrates Costa had instructed him to do the salute, according to transcripts of his hearing published by Italian media.

«It was planned, we should have done it a week earlier but it was not possible because of bad weather,» Schettino said. «They insisted. They said: `We do tourist navigation, we have to be seen, get publicity and greet the island´.» He also said that the black box on board had been broken for two weeks, and that he had asked for it to be repaired, in vain. In the hearing, Schettino insisted he had informed Costàs headquarters of the accident straight away, and his line of conduct had been approved by the company’s marine operations director throughout a series of phone conversations. He acknowledged, however, not raising the alarm with the coast guard promptly and delaying the evacuation order.

«You can’t evacuate people on lifeboats and then, if the ship doesn’t sink, say it was a joke. I don’t want to create panic and have people die for nothing,» he said. Costa, a unit of Carnival Corp, says Schettino lied to the company and his own crew about the scale of the emergency. Documents from his hearing with a judge say he had shown «incredible carelessness» and a «total inability to manage the successive phases of the emergency». Taped conversations have revealed the ship’s bridge told coast guards who were alerted by passengers that the vessel had only suffered a black-out even after those on board donned life vests.