Cruise ship captain faces judicial hearing GIGLIO, Italy, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- A wrecked Italian cruise ship's captain was accused of "inexcusable" recklessness, as oily matter leaking from the liner spurred fears of an ecological crisis. Capt. Francesco Schettino, 52, of Naples, Italy, was to be questioned by authorities at a court hearing Tuesday, his lawyer said, and a judge would decide if authorities had legal justification to keep him detained. Schettino, who authorities said they feared could tamper with evidence, may face charges that include manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of the liner Costa Concordia as the death toll from Friday's tragedy off Tuscany rose to six from five and the number of missing rose to 29 from 16. Two Americans -- Gerald Heil, 69, and his wife, Barbara, 70, of White Bear Lake, Minn., near St. Paul -- are among the missing, the U.S. State Department said. Schettino could face as much as 15 years in prison, CNN reported early Tuesday. Pier Luigi Foschi, chairman and chief executive of liner owner Costa Crociere SpA, or Costa Cruises, told a news conference in Genoa, Italy, Monday Schettino had made an "unapproved, unauthorized maneuver" before the disaster, deviating from his computer-programmed route to make a sail-by "salute" to the Italian island of Giglio. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica and the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported the salute was to have been to the family of the ship's chief steward, Antonello Tievoli, who were on the Tyrrhenian Sea island. "In a short period of time the Concordia ship will pass very close," the newspapers quoted Tievoli's sister Patrizia Tievoli as posting in Italian on Facebook. She posted her message about 20 minutes before the $567 million, 114,500-ton cruise ship carrying 4,212 people hit a reef that tore a 160-foot gash in the hull, causing the 952-foot-long ship to list violently and then capsize, just as a late-seating dinner had begun about 9:30 p.m. "A big hello to my brother," the newspapers said she posted. Hours later, after the ship capsized, she wrote: "A tragedy, a dreadful tragedy. I can't believe it's true. I just hope I will wake up and realize that it was a nightmare. The longest night of my life. She later posted a black and white photograph of the Titanic, dated 1912, next to one of the Concordia on its side, dated 2012, the Telegraph said. United Press International found Patrizia Tievoli's Facebook page but saw no wall postings or photos. Foschi disputed Schettino's account that the Costa Concordia was nearly 1,000 feet offshore when the accident occurred. The ship was actually barely 500 feet from shore, said Foschi, whose company is owned by giant U.S.-British cruise ship operator Carnival Corp. Chief prosecutor Francesco Verusio, who was to speak at Tuesday's judicial hearing, said: "We are struck by the unscrupulousness of the reckless maneuver that the commander of the Costa Concordia made near the island of Giglio. It was inexcusable. Environment Minister Corrado Clini said the ship ran aground in a maritime nature reserve for marine mammals such as dolphins and whales, and was leaking an oily liquid. But he said he was not clear whether the liquid was fuel oil. Foschi said no oil had leaked Monday. Clini said Prime Minister Mario Monti would declare a state of emergency to release government funds to help prevent an environmental disaster, the chances of which he said were "very high" unless the ship's 500,000 gallons, or 2,300 tons, of semi-solid fuel in 17 separate tanks were removed right away. The ship shifted a few inches Monday, raising fears it might break up. The "entire archipelago" faces an ecological calamity, "depending on how the sea moves," Clini said. Environmental protection "is our main concern after human lives," Foschi said. I hope the fuel can be taken off the ship soon.