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Latest update: 19/02/2012
- accident - Italy
Concordia captain passes drug test despite traces of cocaine in hair
Captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner, Francesco Schettino, has passed a screening for drug and alcohol abuse, though traces of cocaine were found in his hair. Lawyers representing passengers claim the findings were unreliable.
By News Wires (text)
REUTERS - The captain of the cruise liner that ran aground off the Italian coast last month has tested negative for drug and alcohol abuse, his lawyers and a consumers’ body said, though the consumer group representing passengers said the findings were unreliable.
The tests were carried out on Francesco Schettino when he was arrested on charges of multiple manslaughter after steering the 114,000 tonne Costa Concordia onto rocks off the island of Giglio on Jan 13, in a disaster that killed at least 17 people.
The results showed Schettino had consumed neither alcohol nor drugs, according to details of the tests released by consumers’ association Codacons, which has presented a class action suit against the ship’s owners.
Codacons, whose own experts were present at the tests, said the results were unreliable as they had also failed to show signs of tranquilizers that Schettino himself had said he was taking before the accident.
The tests also showed unexplained traces of cocaine on Schettino’s hair.
However they did not find any signs of breakdown products of cocaine inside Schettino’s hair follicles - the products that would usually show up inside the hair of someone who had actually used cocaine.
Schettino’s lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, criticised Codacons for commenting on tests which had still not been made public, but said the scientific outcome was indisputable.
“The results of the test were negative, both regarding drug abuse and alcohol abuse,” he said.
The scientist in charge of the tests, Marcello Chiarotti, told Italian news agency ANSA that the tests had given clear and certain results which he would hand to the prosecutors.
Asked about the traces of cocaine, he said there had been “a marginal problem which did not remotely undermine the results of the analysis”.
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Comments (1)
Costa Lot
Drugs on the bridge of the ship and every place else the captain went aboard ship. I wonder if the insurance company who insured the Costa Concordia has a clause that voids payment if drugs are involved? Who among the crew has added druglord to their resume? And does this mean that mandatory drug testing will be the norm now among cruise ship employees? They should rename the Costa Concordia the Costa Lot. But maybe they can recoup some of their loss by selling that big rock in the side of the ship. It is after all, the rock that sunk the biggest cruise ship in history.
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