>>
thanks. new details are coming to the light in the case of the costa con docord concordia disaster. it ran aground, and the may issue of "
vanity fair
" provides the most details account yet of what happened. our reporter joins us now with details. marra, good morning.
>>
when the
costa concordia
sank, with became the largest passenger shipwreck ever. now almost three months later, we're learning new information about what the ship's captain allegedly did wrong, turning a dream vacation into a nightmare.
>> reporter:
today the
costa concordia
is in the exact same position as the night ran aground off the italian coast, killing 32. now "
vanity fair
" magazine provides an exhaustive account, focusing on a series of unbelievable blunders allegedly made by the ship's captain, 51-year-old francesco schettino. it reads like a laundry list of incompetence. the captain was allegedly going too fast, navigating by sight, talking on the phone when the accident happened and took a spectacular wrong turn before hitting the rock that left a 230-foot gash in the ship's hull. afterwards allegedly saying, expletive, i didn't see it! but that was just the beginning.
>>
the mistakes that the captain made after hitting the rock were worse than actually hitting the rock.
>> reporter:
in an attempt to stabilize the already lifting ship, schettino lowered the ship's two anchors. but according to the article, he released way too much chain, causing them to fall uselessly to the
sea floor
.
>>
that's what caused the ship to plop over, that's why a lot of people drowned.
>> reporter:
schettino is also accused of leaving the ship before all of the passengers had been rescued. claiming he fell into a lifeboat, then refusing to leave shore and go back, saying, "no, i want to stay here, to verify conditions on the ship."
>>
it's pretty clear he was stunned. he was startled. people talk about a deer in the headlights. it was that type of thing.
>> reporter:
but the article's most serious allegation is that schettino may have instructed officers to lie. one officer telling prosecutors the captain ordered us to say that everything was under control and that we were checking the damage, even though he knew that the ship was taking on water. in february, schettino's attorney defended the captain, saying he has been assaulted by the media and didn't do anything illegal that night but simply made a mistake.
>> translator:
he is a person who has worked for years with honor and competence.
>>
while captain schettino has not been charged, he remains under
house arrest
and could face multiple charges of manslaughter and illegally abandoning his ship. as for that ship itself, it could be another year before it's removed from the shallow waters it's resting in.
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