What should have been a peaceful Mediterranean cruise quickly became a harrowing nightmare for the passengers of the MS Costa Concordia. The Costa Concordia ran aground off the Italian coast on Jan. 13 and flooded before rolling onto her side with at least 11 killed and over a dozen unaccounted for. Over 4,200 people were evacuated from the ship by the Italian Coast Guard, with 64 people injured.

What has puzzled maritime experts, however, is how so many people were killed in the accident. While running aground (striking the bottom of the seabed in shallow water) is one of the most serious accidents that can befall a ship, that doesn’t explain the relatively high casualty rate.

The answer may come from new transcripts and audio recordings released by the Italian Coast Guard that appear to show that the captain, Francesco Schettino, had – either accidentally or intentionally – misled both the Coast Guard and his passengers. He had also abandoned ship before seeing to it that all of his passengers were evacuated. The captain can be heard telling the coast guardsman via radio that he was coordinating the rescue from a lifeboat.

“What are you coordinating [from] there?” the coast guardsman interrupts. “Get on board! Coordinate the rescue from on board!”

As the audio recording continues, the captain calls the emergency on his ship a “minor technical failure,” misreports the number of people aboard the ship (“about two or three hundred,” rather than 4,000) and refuses to give his ship’s location. He is even unaware that there were dead bodies seen on the ship, which enrages the coast guardsman. In all, Captain Schettino was ordered at least 10 times to return to the bridge of the stricken cruise liner. He did not, despite telling the Coast Guard that he would do so.

Additional information about the charted cruise route reveals that the Costa Concordia was sailed off of its officially logged course in order to pass closer to the island of Giglio. Other cruise ships traveling the same route took the closer path through shallow waters without incident. However, it is the job of the captain to ensure that a ship stays on its charted course, and not in waters that are too shallow for the vessel.

Captain Schettino was arrested for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and unlawful abandonment of a vessel by her captain. If convicted, he could spend up to 15 years in an Italian prison. Rescue efforts on board the Costa Concordia are still ongoing as divers continue to search cabins below deck for any possible survivors.

The ship itself is considered a write-off, and will likely not be returned to service. It is not known when the ship will be salvaged and removed.

Translated version of the radio transcript provided by The Guardian. All other information accessed from CNN.