Captain Panic lectures on valour

08 August 2014 - 02:01 By ©The Daily Telegraph
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Captain Francesco Schettino
Captain Francesco Schettino

Francesco Schettino, the Costa Concordia cruise liner captain who infamously claimed that he "accidentally tripped" into a lifeboat as the cruise liner sank, has been teaching students at a distinguished Italian university how to handle "situations of panic and crisis".

Schettino, who is on trial for multiple manslaughter and for abandoning the ship hours before its evacuation was complete, lectured postgraduate students at Rome's La Sapienza University on July 5.

The commander reportedly used a 3D graphic of the night the Costa Concordia ran aground off the island of Giglio to show how he managed the chaotic evacuation.

Schettino has consistently maintained that it was only thanks to his expertise and quick thinking that the ship capsized in shallow water just a few hundred metres from the shore instead of drifting out into deep water.

Had the ship sunk there, there could have been hundreds, even thousands of casualties, not just 32 fatalities.

But a group of centre-right senators issued a statement of protest at his lecture, saying it "offends the memory of the victims, and the image of Italy in the eyes of the world. It seems an insult to assign to him any capabilities of managing panic."

Stefania Giannini, the education minister, said Schettino's involvement was "baffling", adding that the capsizing of the Concordia remained "an open wound" for Italy.

Vincenzo Mastronardi, the academic who organised the lecture, insisted that he had not invited Schettino but that the former captain had shown up "by surprise".

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