Concordia captain blames bridge team

(ANSA) - Grossetto, December 12 - Former captain Francesco Schettino raised his voice and blamed officers for being "at fault" in the January 2012 Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster during his trial on Friday.
    "It was the fault of the bridge team," Schettino said to Alessandra Guarini, lawyer for one of the passengers, during questioning.
    Schettino is the only person on trial after Costa Cruises and a number of crew members and company staff reached plea bargains with prosecutors in the sinking that killed 32 people.
    Schettino accused officers to whom he had entrusted ship's wheel prior to running aground, saying: "It is not possible that the officers didn't alert the commander that the ship was going over a rock".
    He added: "It would have been better if I had gone to the bridge at the end of the maneuver to sound the whistle to Giglio and I had left these [officers] here on their own on the bridge".
    The Concordia shipwreck, Italy's worst postwar maritime disaster, injured hundreds and also claimed the life of a Spanish diver who died while on the salvage operation, taking the total death toll to 33.
    The incident also caused massive economic damage for Costa Cruises and residents of Tuscany's Giglio Island, a popular tourist destination.
    Dubbed "Captain Coward" by the media for abandoning his ship and passengers, Schettino claims his image and actions have been distorted by investigators and the media.