Costa Concordia prosecution begins

A 60-page dossier detailing the terrifying final moments of some of the 32 people who lost their lives in the Costa Concordia disaster has been presented to an Italian judge as part of a prosecution that could lead to the Captain Francesco Schettino facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.

The youngest victim of the Costa Concordia, five-year-old Dayana Arlotti and her father Williams Arlotti, died shortly after being told there was no space for her or her father in a lifeboat, reports The Guardian.

The Dossier documents how Dayana and her father had tried and failed to find seats in a lifeboat on the port side of deck number four, and had been directed by staff to the starboard side instead. On the way over, though, Dayana fell into a flooded area and drowned.

Giuseppe Girolamo, a musician who had been working on the ship, gave up his seat in a lifeboat for someone else, only to die himself when he fell into the water.
Maria D'Introno, another passenger, did manage to find a place on a lifeboat but had to go back on board when it failed to launch, said prosecutors. She subsequently died when she jumped from the boat; the report said that, while she was still wearing a life jacket, she was unable to swim.

An investigating judge is expected to announce within weeks that 52-year-old Schettino and several other people, including representatives of Costa Crociere, the company that owned the Concordia, should stand trial.

32 people who lost their lives when the Costa Concordia cruise liner crashed into rocks off the island of Giglio, Italy in January last year.