Jacksonville Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog
The captain of an Italian cruise ship was arrested and will be facing several charges. Francesco Schettino and hist first mate, Circo Ambrosia face potential charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.
According to the New York Post:
“Prosecutors said the ship had been gliding extraordinarily close to the island of Giglio, off Tuscany, when it slammed into the rocky spur in ‘an awkward way.’ Some passengers charged that at the time of the crash, 9:45 p.m. local time, the captain was hanging out with elegantly dressed vacationers in the main dining room and that his crew hogged the lifeboats to save themselves… By the time the captain got around to ordering an evacuation, about 100 terrified passengers had taken matters into their own hands and were already bobbing up and down in the freezing Mediterranean Sea.”
Naturally, several civil suits will stem from this tragedy. Additionally, it appears that the criminal case will also attract much media attention.