It was said that the Costa Concordia’s captain purposefully crashed the ship in order to win over his lover.
Most men would never risk the lives of over 4,000 people just to brag, but many men have gone to extreme measures to get a woman.
33 passengers and crew members sadly perished as a result of Francesco Schettino’s decision, suggesting that he may have overlooked the warning.
The former Italian shipmaster is still behind bars after being found guilty of manslaughter for causing the Costa Concordia to collapse and leaving his passengers behind.
He is over halfway through his 16-year sentence, which he started serving in 2017 after all appeals were exhausted.
Schettino, who was called a “Captain Coward” for leaving the sinking ship, stated that his sole goal on that fateful January 2012 day was to impress tourists.
The seven-day Mediterranean vacation, which started at Civitavecchia, close to Lazio on the Italian coast, was led by the 64-year-old.
On January 13, 2012, the luxury liner pulled up to the tourist island of Giglio a few hours after leaving the port, and Schettino made the decision to give his passengers a tour.
However, the Costa Concordia swerved off its intended course as a result of this “sail by,” which was also followed by a nautical salute in which the ship’s horn was blared to the locals.
Because of this, many people on board were not aware that there was a rock outcrop in the ship’s path, and by the time Schettino finally yelled at the crew to reroute the ship, it was too late to save it.
A huge 35-meter hole on the side of the Costa Concordia burst apart during the collision, letting gallons of water into the engine room and tilting the ship.
After landing unevenly on an underwater ledge, it partially sank, but Schettino fled the scene on a lifeboat that he later claimed he “fell” into rather than staying to assess the damage.
It’s safe to assume that during his time as captain of the Costa Concordia, he committed several grave mistakes.
However, despite claims that this was the reason for the tragedy, Schettino says that being sidetracked by a young Moldovan dancer was not one of them.
In court, his alleged lover, Domnica Cemortan, who was 24 at the time, acknowledged having an affair with the captain.
Authorities say he drove too close to the island to brag to Cemortan, according to the BBC.
According to the Daily Mail, the dancer said that because she was positioned so far away from Schettino, she was unable to divert his attention during the crash.
Nonetheless, Schettino claimed in court that the sail-by was done for “business motives” and that he wanted to amuse his guests.
“My three goals were to amuse my guests, to honor a retired captain who lived on Giglio, and to please the ship’s head waiter, who was from the island,” the captain said.
“I wanted to accomplish several things at once,” Schettino claimed, adding that he did not think it was necessary to notify the ship’s owners, Costa Crociere, of the diversion because it was deemed “an approach” rather than a “touristic route.”
After looking into the incident, Italy’s Ministry of Infrastructures and Transports concluded that the ship was traveling too near the coast.
The study also found that the Costa Concordia’s “unsafe distance at night and fast speed (15.5 kts)” and the “poorly illuminated beach area” were factors in the fatal accident.
In the end, 33 individuals died in the tragedy, and the final victim’s body wasn’t recovered until November 2014, two years later.
After the Costa Concordia disaster, Schettino and his employees were charged with a number of offenses, including homicide.
The total cost of the ship sinking is estimated to be around $2 billion (£1.56 billion).
