Italy shipwreck captain involved in 2010 incident

The captain of a tragedy-struck Italian cruise ship caused damage to another vessel while sailing too fast in 2010, according to a leak in an Italian daily on Friday, but his company denied any incident. Captain Francesco Schettino "manoeuvred at a speed of 7.7 to 7.9 knots during entry into the port of Warnemunde, causing damage to the Aida Blu cruise ship," his employer notified him in a letter published by La Stampa newspaper. According to documents leaked from a criminal investigation into the Costa Concordia disaster, Schettino responded in writing saying: "I did not know the speed limit and have not received notification of an infraction." He reportedly said there were "probably other factors" behind the accident. But cruise ship owner Costa Crociere said in a statement to AFP that the incident in June 2010 had not actually caused an accident and that it had only asked the captain for clarification on the speed at which he entered the port. "Captain Schettino never had any accidents in the six years that he was a captain for Costa and was never subjected to disciplinary procedures," it said. "Since there was no basis for disciplinary action, the company requested clarification from the captain about the speed at which he entered the port of Warnemunde and asked him to pay greater attention to familiarising himself with navigation documents for the port in question," Costa Crociere said. It also said it wrote to him "to draw his attention to the inappropriate tone in his response to the captain of another ship from the group." Schettino has been accused of manslaughter and of abandoning ship before all the passengers were evacuated after the Costa Concordia ran aground on the Italian island of Giglio on January 13 with the loss of 32 lives. At the time of the incident in Germany, he was captain of the Costa Atlantica -- another ship from the fleet of Costa Crociere, Europe's biggest cruise operator based in the port of Genoa in northwestern Italy. Schettino, who has been dubbed "Captain Coward" by the tabloid press, is one of nine people under investigation for the Costa Concordia disaster including three Costa Crociere executives and five other crew members. Leaked documents published on Thursday contained claims of a hard-partying atmosphere on board two Costa Crociere ships including the Costa Concordia, with officers allegedly seen snorting cocaine and getting drunk on a regular basis. Costa Crociere has dismissed these claims as "lies."