Costa Concordia Firm Fined £850k Over Wreck

The owners of the Costa Concordia have been fined £850,000 over the grounding and sinking of the ship that killed 32 people last year.

Costa Crociere SpA, a division of Miami-based Carnival Corporation, has sought to blame the disaster entirely on Captain Francesco Schettino, who took the cruise ship off course before it struck a reef off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

Costa had asked for a plea bargain deal to respond to the administrative sanctions, which under Italian law are for companies whose employees commit crimes.

Judge Valeria Montesarchio of the Grosseto tribunal accepted the plea after a hearing.

Prosecutors are seeking indictments for Schettino and five other people on charges including manslaughter.

Captain Schettino hit the reef off the Tuscan coast

It is claimed Schettino's actions on January 13, left a 70m (230ft) gash in the hull, causing the liner to take on water and capsize.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday but it is not clear if the judge will make a decision then on whether to order a trial.

Among the five are the helmsman, two other officials who were on the bridge during the grounding and the Costa official on land who was managing the crisis.

Schettino is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the vessel before all the passengers had been evacuated.

Passengers have described that by the time the captain ordered an evacuation of the ship it was listing so far to one side that many lifeboats could not be lowered.

Schettino has depicted himself as a hero, claiming it was his skilful steering after the collision that allowed the ship to move closer to the port and helped to save lives.

He has also maintained the reef was not marked on the ship's navigational charts. Sailors in the area, however, say the reef is a well-known tourist attraction in the pristine waters off Giglio.

The ship remains on its side in Giglio's port and efforts to right it and tow it away are under way.

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