Costa Concordia:

The Captain's Tale

If you think you know what happened when the Costa Concordia went down - think again.

It's been nearly a year since the Costa Concordia cruise liner struck a rock and sank off the coast of Italy, leaving 32 passengers and crew dead. The captain is now facing possible manslaughter charges, and his ship is at the centre of the biggest salvage operation in history. As questions continue to swirl around who is to blame for the tragic maritime disaster, the fifth estate looks back at the sinking of the Costa Concordia, with the exclusive first in-depth television interview with Captain Francesco Schettino. Bob McKeown sheds new light on the sequence of events that led to the loss of the largest ship ever built in Italy, with black box recordings detailing events unfolding on the doomed ship before, during and after the crash.

Why didn't the captain tell everyone to immediately abandon ship? Why did he leave the vessel before everyone else was safely off?

"We were forced to go. Otherwise we would have died," Schettino says.

Hear the Captain's first-hand account about why he did what he did, as he tries to save his reputation, not to mention his freedom.