 Costa Concordia captain 'sorry' for sinking 
 
 Francesco Schettino broke down when asked about the youngest victim of the disaster 
 
 The captain of Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground killing more than 30 people in January, has said he is sorry for the disaster. In his first full television interview since the accident on January 13, Francesco Schettino acknowledged his responsibility as captain and said he thought constantly about the victims of the disaster. "I blame myself for being distracted," he said but added the actual sailing of the ship was under the command of another officer at the time. Schettino, who is charged with multiple manslaughter, causing the accident and abandoning his ship, was speaking after being freed from house arrest last week. The Naples-born captain admitted to failing to act decisively enough once it became clear the 144,500 tonne vessel had come too close to the island of Giglio off the Tuscan coast where it ran aground. "When there's an accident, it is not just the ship that is identified or the company, the captain is identified and so it's normal that I should apologise as a representative of this system," he told Italy's Canale 5 television. The Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Giglio 
 
 "At that moment, I went up to the deck and ordered the ship to be put on manual navigation and I didn't have command, that's to say being in charge of sailing the ship, that was the officer," he said.
– The captain who was "distracted" when the Costa Concordia sailed smack into a rock finally took to TV yesterday to at last say sorry, though it doesn't sound like the passion quotient was too high. "When there's an accident, it's not just the ship that's identified or the company," said Francesco Schettino according to Reuters, which took note of his "pronounced tic" in one eye. "The captain is identified and so it's normal that I should apologize as a representative of this system." And while he did fault the fact that he was distracted, he pointed out that another officer was sailing the ship at the time of the incident. More not-exactly-heart-wrenching comments: "This was a banal accident in which there was a breakdown in the interaction between human beings ... It was as though there was a blackout in everyone's heads and in the instruments." The BBC notes that he did get choked up at one point, though: When asked about the 5-year-old who was among the more than 30 who died, he was unable to speak. Schettino was released from house arrest last week, but faces multiple manslaughter charges.