By Silvia Ognibene
GROSSETO, Italy, July 21 (Reuters) – Experts investigating
the Costa Concordia shipwreck, which killed as many as 32
people, need more time to gather evidence and will present their
findings at a pre-trial hearing on Oct. 15, lawyers said on
Saturday.
The panel of experts investigating the Jan. 13 cruise line
disaster off the Italian coast are expected to complete their
work by September.
Saturday’s pre-trial hearing, which considers evidence ahead
of a full trial, was postponed after the experts asked for more
time to answer some 50 requests from information by the
prosecutors, lawyers said. It was the second hearing since the
procedure opened on March 3.
“It was a simple technical delay,” said Bruno Leporatti, a
lawyer representing the ship’s captain Francesco Schettino, who
is accused of causing the accident and who faces charges
including multiple manslaughter.
Leporatti said the investigators had not been able to gather
all the evidence “given the complexity of the questions”.
The huge Costa Concordia, with some 4,200 passengers and
crew aboard, ran aground and half capsized after a rock tore a
hole in its hull when it approached the tiny Tuscan island of
Giglio during a cruise of the western Mediterranean.
At least 30 people died during a chaotic nighttime
evacuation of the 114,500-tonne ship, and another two bodies
have still not been recovered.
Alessandro Lecci, a lawyer representing Giglio, said a delay
was preferable to the risk of having incomplete evidence in any
subsequent trial. He said the experts’ investigation was at an
advanced stage.
Prosecutors have accused Schettino of causing the accident
by bringing the multi-storey ship too close to the shore and
then abandoning ship before the evacuation of passengers and
crew was complete.
Eight other officers and executives of the ship’s owners
Costa Cruises are also under investigation.
Schettino was released from house arrest earlier this month
but was not at Saturday’s hearing. He has admitted mistakes and
apologised for the accident, saying in his first full television
interview that he had been distracted when it happened.
(Writing By James Mackenzie; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)
