Traces of cocaine found on hair of Costa Concordia captain

PA

Traces of cocaine have been found on a hair sample from Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia.

However the Mail on Sunday reports that the traces of the drug were found on his hair rather than in the hair itself or in his urine - indicating that he hadn't consumed it.

Stefano Zerbi, who is representing some of the survivors, said that the results were "very strange" and said that he believed that the samples "more than anything else, had been badly preserved and contamination might have resulted."

However the Mail reports that other experts have suggested that Schettino may have been around the drug, even if he didn't consume any of it.

The Mirror reports that the captain of the cruise liner has tested negative for drug and alcohol abuse, however consumers' association Codacons, which has presented a class action suit against the ships owners, has said that the tests were unreliable because they failed to show signs of the tranquillisers that Schettino admitted he was taking before the accident.

Schettino's lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, criticised Codacons for commenting on the tests, but said that the results were indisputable.

He told the Mirror: "The results of the test were negative, both regarding drug abuse and alcohol abuse."

When asked about the traces of cocaine, the scientist in charge of the tests, Marcello Chiarotti, told Italian news agency ANSA that there had been "a marginal problem which did not remotely undermine the results of the analysis."

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