House arrest lifted for Costa Concordia captain

It has been revealed yesterday that Italian judges have lifted the house arrest placed upon the Costa Concordia captain - Francesco Schettino. Schettino is however still confined to the boundaries of his hometown near Naples.

The house arrest came after the very memorable but tragic Costa Concordia disaster where in which the ship hit rocks near the shore just off Gigilo island killing 32 on January 13th.

More unusual however are the comments made in a letter by Schettino after the news of the release explaining "a divine hand surely touched my head…If I had continued on that path the ship's prow would have hit the rock. It would have been carnage,” In the letter, Schettino suggests that his skilful manoeuvre of the ship before the accident prevented a head on collision with the rock. He further commented "There are those who say the impact with the stern was caused because I was suffering from a hallucination. What hallucination! It was rather my instinct, my skills, the ability to know the sea and suddenly change direction," he said. "The dilemma was whether to evacuate or not. Evacuating over 4,000 people from a boat in motion has its risks. To do it would have been almost a liberation for me, but my conscience meant I could not do it lightheartedly."

The case will progress further on July 21st where in which the black box and other technical data will be analyzed.