Court declares Costa Concordia Captain Schettino 'guilty' of manslaughter

A court has declared the captain of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia guilty and has sentenced him to 16 years in prison.

Captain Francesco Schettino was steering the cruise ship when it hit a reef off the Italian island of Giglio two years ago and capsized, killing 32 people. He was accused of taking the ship too close to the shore and then abandoning the ship with passengers and crew on board, reported the BBC.

Schettino has denied all the charges and had said that he was being made a scapegoat.

He had earlier claimed that he steered the cruise ship closer to a nearby island to impress passengers.

His lawyers had contended that the accident was a "collective failure" of ship's crew and others should share the blame for the tragedy.

Although prosecutors had sought a 26-year jail term for Schettino yet the court sentenced him to 10 years' imprisonment for multiple manslaughter, five years for causing the shipwreck and one year for abandoning his passengers and crew.

The 54-year-old captain is expected to appeal against the verdict.

The verdict was read out by Judge Giovanni Puliatti in the city of Grosseto.