Concordia captain's house arrest lifted

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ROME, July 5 (UPI) -- An Italian judge Thursday lifted the house arrest for Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner that capsized in January.

Schettino will now be required to meet a judicial order barring him from leaving his hometown of Meta di Sorrento, ANSA reported.

Schettino is under investigation for charges of multiple manslaughter, abandoning his post before the evacuation of all 4,200 passengers and crew and failure to communicate properly with maritime authorities.

In a television interview aired Wednesday night, Schettino claimed the dangerous maneuver he pulled saved the ship from a "massacre."

The ship collided with rocks off the cost of Giglio, tearing a hole in the side, which lead to its eventual capsizing..

Witnesses claimed Schettino was hallucinating when he maneuvered the ship sidelong onto the rocks, the report said.

"What hallucination! Rather, it was my instinct, my savvy, my knowledge of the sea that made me do the sudden turn to starboard," he told the Qinta Colonna program.

The sinking of the Costa Concordia killed 32 people in January, and officials say removal operations will take as long as a year to complete. ANSA reported the disaster was one of Italy's worst maritime disasters since World War II.