Costa Concordia captain says he needed '30 more seconds' to avert fatal tragedy

The Italian ex-captain of the drowned cruise ship, Costa Concordia, has claimed that he would have averted the deadly crash if he had "30 more seconds" and had received warning from his crew.

Speaking at his manslaughter trial on Saturday, Francesco Schettino said that he almost managed to avoid the rock and he could have averted the tragedy if he was given all the data by his crew, reported News 24.

The captain faces charges of manslaughter and dereliction of duty.

Pinning most of the blame for the disaster on his crew, Schettino claimed that his crew did not provide him all the necessary information in time as the ship collided with a reef.

He said that he was willing "to take one part of the responsibility but only one part."

The Costa Concordia hit a reef off the Italian island of Giglio two years ago and capsized, killing 32 people. It was moving at a brisk 16 knots and had 4,229 people from 70 countries on board when it struck the rocks.