GROSSETO, Italy (AP) -- The captain of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship was convicted and sentenced Wednesday to 16 years and one month in prison for manslaughter, causing the 2012 shipwreck that claimed 32 lives and abandoning the luxury liner while many passengers and crew were still aboard.<br />
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The punishment for Francesco Schettino was 10 years less than the prison term sought by prosecutors, who told the court the Concordia's captain was a "reckless idiot."<br />
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The three-judge panel handed down 10 years for 32 counts of manslaughter, five years for causing the Jan. 13, 2012, shipwreck when the Concordia rammed a reef near Giglio island, and one year for abandoning the ship while many of the luxury liner's 4,200 passengers and crew were still aboard during a chaotic, delayed evacuation.<br />
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The court added a month to the sentence for Schettino's downplaying the gravity of the problem in his communications with maritime authorities.
