An Italian court began hearing Monday, February 6 an appeal by prosecutors demanding that the captain of the Costa Concordia be held in prison and not under house arrest as decided by a magistrate in a previous ruling, M&C reported quoting DPA.
During the hearing being held in Florence, lawyers representing Captain Francesco Schettino were also appealing the previous ruling, with a request that the house arrest be lifted and that their client be set free.
Schettino was taken into custody on January 14, one day after the Costa Concordia ran aground near Giglio island off Italy's western coast.
He faces charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all the passengers were evacuated.
Prosecutors are also investigating the Concordia's first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, for the accident in which 17 people have been certified dead.
Some 15 people are still unaccounted for, officials say.
