Captain Francesco Schettino Tells Port: “It’s just a blackout”

A new audiotape emerged Thursday of the first contact between Livorno port officials and the Costa Concordia – and the captain is heard insisting that his cruise ship only had a blackout a full 30 minutes after it had rammed into a reef.

Capt. Francesco Schettino, who was jailed after he left the ship before everyone was safely evacuated, is under house arrest, facing possible charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship. In a new recording released Thursday, the first communication between the ship and Livorno port authorities, Schettino is heard assuring the officer that he was checking out the reasons for the blackout. But he doesn’t volunteer that the ship had hit a reef.