The captain of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground killing 32 people, said he was distracted shortly before the collision.

In a TV interview with Italy's Canale 5, Francesco Schettino described the accident and said he was distracted by a phone conversation just before the ship crashed into a reef off an Italian island and capsized.

Prosecutors have alleged that the Concordia cruised too close to the island in a publicity stunt, and shortly before it rammed the reef Schettino was on the phone with a retired sea captain on Giglio.

"I blame myself for being distracted," Schettino said when asked about the phone call.

An Italian judge last week lifted Schettino's house arrest order, but said he must remain in his hometown near Naples during a criminal investigation in which he is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the liner while many passengers and crew were still aboard.