Timeline of Italian cruise ship disaster
Timeline of the 2012 Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster in which 32 people died and its aftermath, culminating in the conviction Wednesday of ship captain Francesco Schettino for causing the shipwreck:
--2012--
- January 13: The liner, carrying 4,229 people from 70 countries, hits rocks off the island of Giglio on the west coast of Italy.
Panic ensues and the ship begins to list. Evacuation gets under way in the darkness more than an hour after the collision, by which point the lifeboats on one side of the tilting liner are unusable. People jump into the freezing waters to escape. The captain Francesco Schettino is found ashore.
- January 14: Prosecutors detain Schettino and his first officer on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship.
- January 17: Italian media leak a transcript of a telephone conversation between Schettino on shore and a port official who orders him to "get back on board for fuck's sake". The captain defies the order.
- January 27: Costa Crociere, the ship's owner, agrees to pay uninjured passengers at least 11,000 euros ($15,000) each in compensation.
--2013--
- April 10: Costa Crociere accepts limited responsibility for the disaster and is fined one million euros.
- July 17: Schettino's trial opens in Grosseto.
- July 20: A court accepts plea bargains for five other suspects: four crew members and Costa Crociere's emergency unit executive. They receive prison sentences ranging from 18 to 34 months.
- September 17: The ship, which weighs 114,500 tons and is the length of almost three football fields, is hoisted upright in the biggest ever salvage operation of a passenger ship.
--2014--
- July 27: Concordia is towed into to the port of Genoa, where it is to be dismantled over two years
- November 3: The remains of the last missing victim of the disaster, Indian waiter Russel Rebello, are discovered
- December 2: Schettino begins giving testimony in his trial. He admits showing off but denies responsibility for the disaster and says his actions may have saved lives
-- 2015 --
January 26: Prosecutors call for Schettino to be shown "no pity" and given a prison term of 26 years and three months.
February 11: A three-judge panel convicts Schettino of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. He is sentenced to 16 years, one month in prison. The judges reject a request for him to be taken into custody immediately, pending two possible appeals against the conviction.
