The bizarre explanations of the commander of 


the "Concordia"  


He ended up speaking. In a memorandum to his lawyers, Francesco Schettino, the commander of the "Costa Concordia", gave his version of events regarding the sinking of the steamer, in which 32 died last January in southern Italy. A confession that falls just as the arrest of the captain was lifted by the investigating judge. 

Francesco Schettino, charged with "multiple homicide by imprudence, wrecked and abandoned vessel", can now leave his home, without leaving the town of Meta di Sorrento. Throughout the pages, whose contents have been partially revealed yesterday by the Italian press, the captain apologizes to families before clearance by explaining to have avoided a bloodbath. "My pain and my sadness have just been relieved by the consciousness of having prevented a massacre," he laments in a few lines. He immediately adds: "If I had continued straight, we would have taken the reef at the prow. There were many more victims. "In his account as it was transcribed, the commander becomes almost mystical:" Luckily, I saw the white foam on my left, as a sign. I then ordered to turn right, by pure instinct [...]. A hand divine had to land on my head at that time. " "It's my nose, the profession and my knowledge of the sea that led me to handle right," dare we add in another passage. A new version that sticks hard to the various testimonies collected so far. In a video broadcast last February and turned in the control room just after the impact, we could see a Francesco Schettino overwhelmed, unable to handle the confusion, even hesitating to order the evacuation of the ship. "Me attacking me and my behavior was the easiest thing to do since the beginning," says he, adding to the address of his colleagues: "Immediately after the accident, j ' could have run me too: But what you left me to do? But I'm not a coward, at the time, you had to be lucid. "Francesco Schettino do not forget the company Costa Cruises. A hint, he meets his former employer: "This tragedy has responsibilities and more complex dynamic.I renew my statements, I support my story. " He added: "I take courage in the idea that the black box data confirm my statements. "Unfortunately for him and for the investigation, a report earlier this week ruled out that the black box of the ship was broken when it sank, and for four days. Faced with the judges , Francesco Schettino can therefore only rely on himself.