GROSSETO, italy — The first hearing of the criminal investigation into the Costa Concordia’s shipwreck that killed 25 people was held in a theater Saturday instead of a courthouse because of demand, with angry survivors seeking compensation, justice and the truth.
The judge at the hearing assigned four experts to analyze the cruise ship’s data recorder and ordered them to report their findings in July, confirming predictions by prosecutor Francesco Verusio that examination of the data, as well as of conversations involving officers on the ship’s bridge, could take months.
Prosecutors must decide whether to seek a trial against the captain, other top officers and officials of Italian cruise company Costa Crociere SpA, which is owned by Miami-based Carnival Corp. Crucial to their decision could be what the experts determine are such details as the Concordia’s velocity when it slammed into a reef the night of Jan. 13 off Giglio island, its exact route and what commands were given by whom and when.
Participants acknowledged that the search for truth and justice will be long. Seven people are still missing.
“Today is just the beginning,” said Francesco Compagna, a lawyer for some passengers and an injured Russian crew member, Irina Nazarova. “It is the first day. We don’t expect quick things but we think that the investigation must follow in all the directions.”
