Rome (CNN) -- Prosecution witnesses at the trial of Capt. Francesco Schettino painted a picture of chaos aboard the Costa Concordia on the night the cruise liner sank, as they testified Tuesday in Italy.
The cruise liner capsized after it struck rocks off Italy's Giglio Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea in January 2012, killing 32 of the 4,200 people on board.INTERACTIVE: How ill-fated cruise liner was raised from Italian seabedSchettino faces charges of manslaughter, causing a maritime disaster and abandoning ship with passengers still on board. He denies wrongdoing.var currExpandable="expand15";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.network='cnnintl';mObj.source='world/2013/10/29/lok-nadeau-italy-costa-concordia-trial.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130822140756-costa-concordia-beach-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand15Store=mObj;var currExpandable="expand25";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.network='cnnintl';mObj.source='bestoftv/2013/09/27/ac-costa-concordia-human-remains-nadeau-intv.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130926223512-ac-costa-concordia-human-remains-nadeau-intv-00003229-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand25Store=mObj;if (typeof cnnArticleGallery == "undefined") {var cnnArticleGallery = {};}if(typeof cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList =="undefined"){cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList = [];}var expGallery53=new ArticleExpandableGallery();expGallery53.setImageCount(30);//cnn_adbptrackpgalimg("The Costa Concordia disaster", 1);
The wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship sits near the harbor of Giglio, Italy, on Tuesday, September 17, after a salvage crew rolled the ship off its side. The Costa Concordia ran aground off Giglio in January 2012, killing 32 of the 4,200 people on board.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":true,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":1,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
The ship had been lying on its side for 20 months off the island of Giglio. Here, members of the U.S. company Titan Salvage and the Italian marine contractor Micoperi pass by the wreckage.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":2,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Damage to the right side of the ship is apparent in the early hours of September 17.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":3,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Using a vast system of steel cables and pulleys, maritime engineers work on Monday, September 16, to hoist the ship's massive hull off the reef where it capsized.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":4,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
The project to upright the Costa Concordia continues on September 16. The nearly $800 million effort reportedly is the largest maritime salvage operation ever.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":5,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
A water line marks the former level of the stricken Costa Concordia as the salvaging operation continues on September 16. The procedure, known as parbuckling, has never been carried out on a vessel as large as Costa Concordia before.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":6,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Members of the U.S. salvage company Titan and Italian firm Micoperi work at the wreck site early on September 16. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":7,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"}
Technicians work to salvage the half-submerged ship on July 7. Nearly 500 workers are involved in an operation to remove the wreck while protecting the marine environment.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":8,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Giant hollow boxes have been attached to the side of the ship, seen on May 27, 2013. Attempts to refloat the ship will be aided by the compartments.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":9,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
A commemorative plaque honoring the victims of the cruise disaster is unveiled in Giglio on January 14, 2013.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":10,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Survivors, grieving relatives and locals release lanterns into the sky in Giglio after a minute of silence on January 13, 2013, marking the one-year anniversary of the shipwreck. The 32 lanterns -- one for each of the victims -- were released at 9:45 p.m. local time, the moment of impact.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":11,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
A man holds an Italian flag on his balcony overlooking the port of Giglio on January 13, 2013.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":12,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
A man works in front of the shipwreck on January 12, 2013.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":13,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
A couple walks along the port of Giglio at night on January 12, 2013.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":14,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
A man sits in his boat in front of the half-submerged cruise ship on January 8, 2013.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":15,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Cranes and floating decks surrounding the ship light up the dusk sky on January 9, 2013.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":16,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Workers stand on the edge of the ship on January 8, 2013.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":17,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
A crew passes by the hulking remains on January 7, 2013.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":18,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
People enjoy a day in the sun with a view of the cruise liner on July 1, 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":19,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Military rescue workers approach the cruise liner on January 22, 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":20,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Members of the Italian coast guard conduct a search-and-rescue mission on January 21, 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":21,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Rescue operations to search for missing people resumed on January 20, 2012, after being suspended for a third time as conditions caused the vessel to shift on the rocks.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":22,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
The Costa Serena, the sister ship of the wrecked Costa Concordia, passes by on January 18, 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":23,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
A bird flies overhead the Costa Concordia on January 18, 2012. Rescue operations were suspended as the ship slowly sank farther into the sea.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":24,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
The ship was sailing a few hundred meters off the rocky Tuscan coastline.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":25,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
An Italian coast guard helicopter flies over Giglio's harbor on January 16, 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":26,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Rescuers search the waters near the stricken ship on January 16, 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":27,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
The Concordia, pictured on January 15, 2012, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome when it hit rocks off the coast of Giglio.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":28,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
The ship starts keeling over early on January 14, 2012. Evacuation efforts started promptly but were made "extremely difficult" by the position of the listing ship, officials said.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":29,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} 
Rescued passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano, Italy, on January 14, 2012. The Costa Concordia was carrying 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":3,"pos":30,"title":"The Costa Concordia disaster"} Photos: The Costa Concordia disaster var currExpandable="expand45";if(typeof CNN.expandableMap==='object'){CNN.expandableMap.push(currExpandable);}var mObj={};mObj.type='video';mObj.contentId='';mObj.network='cnnintl';mObj.source='bestoftv/2013/09/25/exp-erin-werse-costa-concordia-captain-blames-faulty-ship-for-wreck.cnn';mObj.videoSource='CNN';mObj.videoSourceUrl='http://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/ ';mObj.lgImage="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130917163331-concordia-upright-story-body.jpg";mObj.lgImageX=300;mObj.lgImageY=169;mObj.origImageX="214";mObj.origImageY="120";mObj.contentType='video';CNN.expElements.expand45Store=mObj;Among several key witnesses Tuesday, on the second day of prosecution testimony against Schettino, was Moldovan dancer Domnica Cemortan, who dined with the captain and was with him on the command bridge at the time of the accident.Cemortan, who boarded the ship as a passenger but had worked on another Costa Cruises ship captained by Schettino a few weeks earlier, conceded under questioning that she had been romantically involved with him.Everything seemed normal at first on the bridge, she told the court, but then she heard Schettino giving orders, and then "speaking angrily, yelling, to another officer" and telling him to obey the order.She heard the alarms go off on the bridge, triggering chaos and confusion. She heard a call from the engine room that "water had entered the ship."The dancer left the bridge with Schettino and crew member Ciro Onorato, she said, following them around the vessel because she wasn't sure where they were going. They ended up near some lifeboats, where "it was very slippery," she said.She and Onorato helped other passengers for about half an hour while the captain returned to the bridge, she said. Then Onorato pulled her into a lifeboat that also held other crew members. The boat hung over the side, and some panicked passengers fell into the water, she said.Cemortan said she has suffered psychological issues and taken medication to deal with the mass media attention after the wreck. She is also a party to the civil case against the captain.Disappointed by captain's actionsOnorato, who had dined with the pair, earlier told the court he was disappointed by Schettino's handling of events during and after the accident.Under cross-examination, Onorato was quizzed about Schettino's movements around the cruise liner and about how they both came to leave the ship.Onorato gave the same account as Schettino has given -- that the ship was falling on top of them and that they had no choice but to "fall" into a lifeboat.The defense also asked about Schettino's demeanor when he saw him on shore and whether or not the captain was trying to get back to the ship.READ: Costa Concordia: Has master mariner in charge of salvage met his match?The prosecution also focused on why Schettino decided to sail so close to the island's rocky coastline.Another witness, ship's maitre d' Antonello Tievoli, a Giglio resident, said he had asked the captain to do the "flyby" a week earlier -- and he acknowledged feeling guilty about having done so.He testified that Schettino had told him that he was going to do a "close passage to the island" on the day of the crash, and that the captain had invited him on to the bridge so he could see it.Tievoli messaged his sister on Facebook to tell her the ship would be passing by moments before the accident. He was planning to point out where his house was on Giglio to Schettino and other guests on the bridge.READ: Costa Concordia salvage: Island celebrations and relief'It is going to end up in the rocks'Schettino asked him to call a retired Costa Cruises captain, Mario Palombo, who lived on Giglio to say they'd be passing close by, Tievoli said. Palombo was not on the island that night, but he and Schettino spoke by telephone.Tievoli told the court that he had done previous "close passages to the island," but none that close.Schettino had to ask the Costa Cruises company before changing his route and had done so before on a previous voyage, Cemortan said.Palombo, who took the stand after Cemortan, described Schettino as insincere and always hiding the truth, adding that he did not respect him.The retired captain said he had been surprised to get a call from Tievoli and then Schettino that evening because it was winter, so there were few people on Giglio to see the "salute," or close passage to the shore. Schettino had asked him on the call about the waters around the island, he said.Palombo said a friend had then rung him, who said, "I saw a ship passing by so close, it is going to end up in the rocks ... I've never seen a ship passing by so close. The lights are off."Palombo said there was no set procedure for doing a "salute" and that the cruise line had never asked him to do one to publicize the brand.He'd done them only for his own sense of pride and seamanship, he said -- and always in summer and never with any "risky maneuvers."Plates, glasses flyingTievoli testified that after the ship hit the rocks and alarms started blaring, he ran down to the restaurant to check the situation. He found a scene of chaos -- terrified passengers, with plates, food and glasses on the floor as the ship listed.The maitre d' told the court he left panicked elderly passengers in safe places where they wouldn't be hit by flying plates.He heard a message from the loudspeakers that the ship was suffering a blackout but did not hear the coded message for crew members only to prepare for emergency, Tievoli said.Once the general alarm was sounded, he and other crew members started preparing lifeboats so those on board could abandon ship, he said. He described lifting a man on crutches onto his back to carry him to safety.READ: Costa Concordia underwater: What's inside of wrecked cruise ship?Questioned by the defense, the maitre d' said he'd crawled down a ladder to jump on the roof of a lifeboat on the ship's upright side.Tievoli said he met the island's deputy mayor climbing onto the ship to save passengers, which could undermine Schettino's argument that he could not get back on board after "falling" into the lifeboat.Hero or villain?The trial is expected to last through the fall with a string of witnesses, including passengers, crew members and islanders, who say they saw the captain on shore looking for dry socks before all the passengers had been safely evacuated.Schettino argues that he is a hero who saved the lives of more than 4,000 people, not a villain whose negligence led to the deaths of 32. His defense is trying to prove, among other things, that the ship's watertight doors did not function properly, and that is the reason the ship sank, leading to all 32 deaths during evacuation.The captain also has told the court that the ship would not have crashed had his helmsman turned it in the direction that Schettino told him to 13 seconds before impact.The helmsman, Jacob Rusli Bin, and four others were convicted in a plea deal in July for their role in the disaster. A Florence court is considering the validity of those plea bargain agreements.CNN's Hada Messia and journalist Barbie Latza Nadeau reported from Rome. CNN's Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London./* push in config for this share instance */cnn_shareconfig.push({"id" : "cnn_sharebar2","url" : "http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/world/europe/italy-costa-concordia-trial/index.html","title" : "Costa Concordia accident witnesses testify at captain\'s trial"});
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