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The captain of the ill-fated cruise ship Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, took the stand on Tuesday before a court in Grosseto, Italy for the first time since the proceedings started in July 2013.

Schettino is being trialed for manslaughter and abandoning ship that sank in January 2012 killing 32 people.

The grounding of the cruise ship, carrying 4,252 people at the time, is believed to had been caused by the captain’s recklessness, as the ship came too close to the Giglio island where it got stuck and later collapsed.

During his testimony the accused captain said he sailed the cruise ship close to a nearby island to impress passengers, BBC reports.

As explained by Schettino, he wanted to give passengers a better view attributing commercial reasons to the decision.

“I wanted to kill three birds with one stone,” Mr Schettino is cited by BBC as saying, the reasons being pleasing the passengers, saluting a retired captain who lived on the island, and doing a favour to the vessel’s head waiter, who was from Giglio.

According to him, such “close-ups” were a common practice aimed at impressing the passengers.

If proven guilty Schettino faces up to 23 years in prison.

The court is expected to reach a verdict on the case by early next year.

World Maritime News Staff