Black box reveals Costa Concordia captain admitting to having 'fu***** up' after disaster

London, July 12 (ANI): Evidence gathered from the black box data recorder has undermined disgraced Costa Concordia skipper Francesco Schettino's attempts to pin the blame for the disaster on a junior officer.

Captain Schettino recently claimed that he was not in charge of the ship when it smashed into the rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the black box showed that chettino disabled the automatic pilot and took control of the ship at 9.39 p.m. that night, six minutes before the collision.

He allegedly veered off the ship's agreed route, steering the Concordia perilously close to Giglio so that he could perform a "salute", or sail-past for the benefit of a former colleague on the island.

The recordings, obtained by the Corriere della Sera newspaper, revealed the panic and drama on the bridge.

"Our a--- is dragging along the seabed!" an unidentified officer yelled. A few moments later Schettino asked, 'What did we hit?" to which an unidentified officer replied, "The reef."

Another officer said, "It was the salute that he wanted," an apparent reference to the sail-past that the captain had agreed to perform.

Schettino telephoned Roberto Ferrarini, an officer who was on duty in the emergency unit of Costa Cruises, the Genoa-based company that owns the Concordia.

"Roberto, I f----- up! Look, I'm dying here, don't tell me anything," he said, according to the transcript.

The black box data will be presented to a judge at a hearing on July 21. (ANI)