# Costa Concordia Shipwreck Trial: Five Guilty **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 20, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042 "2013-07-20T17:05:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/1 "2013-07-20T17:05:56Z")
A court in Italy has convicted five people of manslaughter over the Costa Concordia shipwreck off Giglio island which killed 32 people in January 2012. Two officers, the helmsman, the head of cabin service and the head of the crisis team were given up to two years and 10 months in jail for multiple manslaughter, negligence and shipwreck. They had agreed plea bargains and may avoid custodial sentences. Capt Francesco Schettino is being tried separately. > **[Five guilty in Costa Concordia trial](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23388680)** > > An Italian court convicts five company employees of manslaughter over the Costa Concordia shipwreck in which 32 people died in January 2012. To refresh your memory: > **[Costa Concordia disaster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster)** > > On 13 January 2012, the eight-year-old Costa Cruises vessel Costa Concordia was on the first leg of a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea when she deviated from her planned route at Isola del Giglio, Tuscany, sailed closer to the island, and struck a rock formation on the sea floor. This caused the ship to list and then capsize, landing unevenly on an underwater ledge. Although a six-hour rescue effort brought most of the passengers ashore, 33 people died: 27 passengers, five crew, and later,... ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/2 "2013-07-20T18:33:21Z")
Okay most of those make sense to me but I’m wondering if there are any articles anywhere that discuss why these 5? In particular the head of cabin service seems odd. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/3 "2013-07-21T04:35:11Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Okay most of those make sense to me but I’m wondering if there are any articles anywhere that discuss why these 5? In particular the head of cabin service seems odd. Possibly the officer responsible for passenger safety and getting everyone safely off the ship in case of a disaster? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/4 "2015-02-11T19:41:26Z")
Followup: Captain Francesco Schettino was [convicted of manslaughter](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/11/costa-concordia-francesco-schettino-guilty-manslaughter) and got a 16-year sentence: > [@](#): > > …The disgraced commander, who was dubbed “Captain Coward” after it emerged that he abandoned the sinking ship even as hundreds of panicking passengers awaited rescue, was not present for the reading of the verdict by a panel of three judges. > > The ruling came just hours after Schettino made a tearful final plea for leniency, telling the court that he had “partly died” on the day of the wreck. > > “All the responsibility has been loaded on to me with no respect for the truth or for the memory of the victims,” he said… Er… isn’t having “All the responsibility loaded on to me” part of the job description of “ship captain”? :rolleyes: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/5 "2015-02-11T21:01:25Z")
Schettino must be a special embarrassment to his countrymen. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/6 "2015-02-11T21:06:36Z")
Francesco Schettino is exactly Zapp Brannigan with real-world consequences. “Sir, it’s an emergency.” “Come back when it’s a catastrophe!” ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/7 "2015-02-11T21:40:22Z")
I remember hearing the conversation at the time of the Italian coast guard ordering Captain Schettino back on board the sinking ship to coordinate the rescue. Here it is as YouTube: [Costa Concordia Coast Guard Audio - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GTLDm2v23Q) The coast guard keeps trying to shame Schettino into going back aboard, and Schettino keeps replying with dissembling reasons and _non sequiturs_ why he isn’t. He finally agreed to obey the order, but actually just stayed cowering on his lifeboat while his confused passengers drowned. Sixteen years sounds about right to me. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/8 "2015-02-11T22:40:23Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Schettino must be a special embarrassment to his countrymen. He’s like a compendium of negative Italian stereotypes – a preening peacock when things are going all right, a cowardly incompetent when things go wrong, and an inept buffoon when trying to dodge blame for the aftermath. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/9 "2015-02-11T23:16:05Z")
Don’t forget that we are talking about a court system that found some seismologists guilty of earthquake. > [@Steve\_MB](#): > > He’s like a compendium of negative Italian stereotypes – a preening peacock when things are going all right, a cowardly incompetent when things go wrong, and an inept buffoon when trying to dodge blame for the aftermath. Confuscious say when reality is reported as fitting a stereotype perfectly, it probably says at least as much about the reporting as the reality. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/10 "2015-02-12T10:28:03Z")
> [@](#): > > The disgraced commander, who was dubbed “Captain Coward” after it emerged that he abandoned the sinking ship even as hundreds of panicking passengers awaited rescue, **was not present for the reading of the verdict** by a panel of three judges. My goodness, he has quite the history of being absent when the crap hits the fan, doesn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/11 "2015-02-12T11:26:58Z")
Unusually for Italian sentencing in a well-publicsed case these sentences actually make sense to me. I mean, Italy might be fine for cases that aren’t publicised but those are generally make them look bad. This one doesn’t, really. Even the length of time it took to convict the Captain is fair given that they had to wait till they had all the evidence and some of it had sunk. Now his appeal is unlikely to be successful whereas before it might have been. > [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Okay most of those make sense to me but I’m wondering if there are any articles anywhere that discuss why these 5? In particular the head of cabin service seems odd. From the (well-sourced) Wiki article cited in a prior post, it was because he was partially in charge of evacuation and he fucked it up, and the others committed specific errors: > [@](#): > > Three crew members – first officer Ciro Ambrosio, helmsman Jacob Rusli Bin and third officer Silvia Coronica – were given sentences between one and two years. Ferrarini, who was not on the ship, was convicted of minimising the extent of the disaster and delaying an adequate response.[259] Giampedroni, the hotel director, was convicted for his role in the evacuation, which was described as chaotic.[259] The helmsman Bin was convicted for steering the ship in the wrong direction after Schettino ordered a corrective manoeuvre. Most of the rest of the crew behaved really efficiently during the incident, even getting lifeboats out before the Captain had ordered it because the conditions required them to do, and they were given commendations for their actions. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/12 "2015-02-12T17:52:30Z")
Disgusting. Apparently he might not go to jail pending his appeal - wtf is he going to appeal? The crew were launching life boats before he made the call to abandon ship. He even had the nerve to say some good came out of this. [Russel Rebello - The True Captain of the Costa Concordia | Cruise Law News](http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2014/11/articles/sinking/russel-rebello-the-true-captain-of-the-costa-concordia/) - the last person to leave the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/13 "2015-02-12T18:57:03Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > He even had the nerve to say some good came out of this. His lawyers tried to argue that instead of being condemned for the people who died, he should be praised for all the people who didn’t: > [@](#): > > [Concordia captain’s defense tries to portray him as a hero](http://nypost.com/2015/02/10/concordia-captains-defense-tries-to-portray-him-as-a-hero/) > > Costa Concordia skipper Francesco Schettino, the so-called “Chicken of the Sea,” didn’t kill 32 people — he heroically saved more than 4,000 passengers and crew, defense lawyers boasted on Monday. > > “If he had given the order to abandon ship right away, a kilometer from the coast, the ship would have been uncontrollable,” attorney Domenico Pepe told an Italian court. > > “Not all the lifeboats would have reached the water intact,” he added. “More than 4,000 people could have died.”… :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/14 "2015-02-12T19:06:25Z")
And a few more brilliant legal gambits: > [@](#): > > [Closing arguments in trial of Costa Concordia captain](http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/09/world/schetttino-trial-closing-arguments/) > > “Schettino is a good man,” [lawyer Domenico Pepe] said. “He is not an idiot.” He then suggested that finding Schettino not guilty would actually be good for Italy’s image, somehow restoring it in the eyes of the world who have seen this case as an example of Italian ineptitude… > > Pepe suggested it was De Falco’s stern manner, rather than Schettino’s apparent ineptitude, that damaged Italy’s reputation… > > Addressing the manslaughter charges, Pepe tried to bolster his argument that because no one died on impact when the ship slammed into the rocks, Schettino cannot be held liable. > > Everyone who perished lost their lives as a result of the chaotic evacuation, he said… :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/costa-concordia-shipwreck-trial-five-guilty/664042/15 "2015-02-13T01:02:04Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > My goodness, he has quite the history of being absent when the crap hits the fan, doesn’t he? I was gonna say…