Judge bars consumer, environmental groups in Italian cruise ship inquiry
But the judge allowed the island of Giglio, whose waters were where the ship ran aground in January, to remain as an injured party, said attorneys who participated in Saturday's closed court proceeding. Italy's civil protection agency was also deemed an injured party Saturday, attorneys said.
The injured parties can present evidence and request additional analysis of any element of the investigation, attorneys said.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor Francesco Varusio confirmed that ship captain Francesco Schettino is being investigated, with allegations of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship, failing to report an accident to the coast guard, and destroying a natural habitat against him. Giglio is a protected park.
His first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, and six other officers both on the ship and from the firm Costa in Genova are under investigation on allegations including manslaughter, shipwreck and failure to report the accident, Varusio told CNN.
Ambrosio's attorney, Salvatore Catalano, provided CNN with a copy of a court transcript of the interrogation of Ambrosio, in which he tells prosecutors that captain Schettino wasn't wearing his glasses when he set the parameters on the radar system.
Ambrosio also told the prosecutors that during the voyage, Schettino asked Ambrosio several times to adjust ship instruments because he couldn't see, the transcript says. Schettino was in command of the ship at the time of the accident, Ambrosio told prosecutors, according to the transcript.
"Schettino was in denial about the gravity of the situation," Ambrosio says in the transcript. "He asked us not to tell the coast guard how serious the situation was.
"He didn't want us to contact the coast guard about the accident," Ambrosio also says in the transcript.
When asked by CNN about Ambrosio's statements on the transcript, Schettino's attorney, Bruno Leporatti, declined to comment.
The ship's owner, Costa Cruiselines of Genova, also was allowed Saturday to remain as an interested party in the preliminary hearings, but not as an injured party, the attorneys said. The company is allowed to remain in the proceeding because the eight persons under investigation are the firm's employees, the attorneys said.
Judge Valeria Montesarchio, who presided over the near five-hour hearing, will rule on March 9 on when the ship's black box will be opened and analyzed, attorneys said.
The next hearing is set for July 21 in Grosseto.
Source: CNN