ROME — Court-appointed experts have squarely blamed the captain of a cruise ship that ran aground off Italy for the wreckage and deaths of 32 people, but they also faulted the crew and ship owner for a series of blunders, delays, and safety breaches that contributed to the disaster.
The Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio on Jan. 13 after Captain Francesco Schettino took it off course and brought it close to the island as part of a stunt. He is accused of manslaughter, causing the shipwreck, and abandoning the ship before all passengers were evacuated.
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Eight other people are also under investigation. The court in Grosseto ordered the expert investigation to help it determine who, if anyone, should be put on trial. A hearing is scheduled for next month.
In a 270-page analysis, the four experts described in second-by-second detail the unfolding disaster as Schettino slowly came to realize the gravity of the situation.
The experts contrasted what went wrong on board with maritime rules and procedures and determined that Schettino should have given the ‘‘abandon ship’’ order at 10 that night, 15 minutes after the 9:45 p.m. grounding against the rocks off Giglio. Instead, the evacuation order went out at 10:43 p.m.
In all, the experts said, Schettino and his bridge crew showed ‘‘scarce professional seriousness’’ before and during the disaster.
The experts said ship owner Costa Crociere bore blame, too, by delaying alerting coastal authorities about the emergency, a charge Costa denied.