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The captain of the Costa Concordia told his manslaughter trial that gravity, not cowardice, had been behind his decision to abandon ship with passengers and crew still aboard.
On a day when he also claimed that his decision to delay evacuating the stricken ship may actually have saved lives, Francesco Schettino gave a new version of his previous, widely derided claim that he had "tripped and fallen" into a lifeboat.
Thirty-two people lost their lives when the cruise ship sank off Italy's coast in 2012.
In court, Schettino confirmed on Wednesday that he had left the bridge barely half an hour after ordering the launch of lifeboats, saying he needed to get a radio from his cabin.
The cabin was on the right hand side of the boat, which was tilted towards the sea and was soon to lurch further on to its starboard side, leaving him with no option but to disembark, he said.
"I was subject to the force of gravity," he said. "Either I had to throw myself into the water - perhaps that would have been better - or I had to get into the lifeboat."
The 54-year-old insisted that, had he found himself on a more central deck: "I would have been the last person off the boat."
Before leaving the bridge, recorded telephone conversations with officials in the port of Livorno indicate, Schettino had insisted he would be the last man off.
He rejected suggestions he had been negligent in failing to issue a clear "abandon ship" order, for fear of inciting panic. "I sweetened the pill," he told the court in Grosseto, Tuscany.
Earlier in the day, Schettino had defended his decision to delay evacuation for over an hour after he hit rocks off the Italian island of Giglio.
The captain, who is also charged with causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship, replied that such a move would have led to chaos among the 4,229 people on board.
"I wanted to get the ship as close to the island as possible. The way it was shaking, had I sounded the [nautical signal for abandon ship] seven long whistles and one short one, people would have thrown themselves into the water," Schettino said.
The Concordia hit the rocks at 9.45pm and the order to abandon ship was not issued until 10.54pm by which time the boat had drifted back towards the island, where it eventually came to rest on the sea bed, half-submerged in about 20 metres of water.
The trial was adjourned and will resume on December 11.


Costa’s captain Francesco Schettino blames gravity, not cowardice

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino insisted he had planned to be the last man off the stricken cruise liner. Photo: AFP

Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino insisted he had planned to be the last man off the stricken cruise liner.Photo: AFP

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