The captain of the Costa Concordia was escorted back to the ship for the first time since 2012.
According to CNN, as part of Captain Francesco Schettino’s trial, he returned and boarded the vessel with an expert team appointed by a court.
CBS News noted that experts were sent out to examine the ship’s electrical generator. Judge Giovanni Puliatti, who is presiding over Schettino’s trial, said that the captain was allowed to board the vessel "as a defendant, not a consultant" and could not ask the experts questions.
On January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia struck a rock in a reef in the Tyrrhenian Sea on Italy’s western coast. The contact tore a gash in the ship which then flooded parts of the engine room and caused power outages. Under Schettino’s command, the cruise ship drifted back to Giglio Island and grounded in shallow waters.
An order to abandon ship was not given until an hour after the impact. Schettino is accused of not ordering that evacuation until it was too late to lower some lifeboats off the liner.
The tragedy claimed the lives of 32 people.
Schettino faces multiple charges including manslaughter and abandoning ship.