Costa Concordia Captain’s Prison Sentence Upheld by Italian Court

An Italian appeals court on Tuesday upheld the 16-year prison sentence given to the former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner for his role in the 2012 crash that killed 32 people.

Francesco Schettino was found guilty last year of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning passengers after the ship he was commanding struck rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Reuters reports.

His lawyers had called for him to be acquitted while a prosecutor appealed to extend the term to 27 years and three months, the news service said. “The blame is shared, the problem is quantifying it,” said Schettino’s lawyer Donato Laino, according to Reuters.

[Reuters]