Costa Concordia: Cruise ship survivors found

Rome - At this time, 3 people are confirmed dead in an accident involving the cruising ship  Costa Concordia . The ship left Civitavecchia for Savona yesterday at 7:30 PM and ran aground near the Isola del Giglio. According to Coast Guard sources, the situation is still confused. The ship has been boarded by Coast Guard rescue personnel, firefighters and a Costa officer and checked top to bottom to confirm that everybody has been evacuated. A portion of the passengers was taken on other vessels to Porto Santo Stefano while other went to Livorno by helicopter. The cause of the accident has not yet been ascertained. The grounded ship suffered a blackout just before running aground.


The South Korean man was brought ashore on a rescue boat, after being found with his wife
The president of Costa Cruises, Gianni Onorato, said the main task for the company was now to assist survivors and help repatriate them.


He said it was difficult to determine what had happened, but that the ship had experienced a blackout after hitting "a big rock".


Mr Onorato added: "We will be working in full transparency with Italian authorities" to understand the causes of the disaster.


He said normal lifeboat evacuation had become "almost impossible" because the ship had listed so quickly.


Francesco Schettino, the 52-year-old captain, had worked for Costa Cruises for 11 years.


The chief prosecutor in the city of Grosseto told reporters that Capt Schettino "very ineptly got close to Giglio", according to Italy's Ansa news agency.


Italian, German, French and British nationals were among the 3,200 passengers on board. There were also 1,000 crew.


On Sunday morning, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News all the Britons - 23 passengers and 12 crew - were now safe and accounted for.


Coast guard captain Cosimo Nicastro told Italian TV that divers had carried out an extensive search of the waters near the vessel and found no further bodies.


On Saturday, survivors were taken to Porta San Stefano, about 25km (15 miles) away on the mainland.


The BBC's Alan Johnson at the scene says many arrived there still wrapped in blankets, and some were clearly very shaken by what they had endured.


Passenger Luciano Castro told Ansa news agency: "We heard a loud noise while we were at dinner as if the keel of the ship hit something."


"The ship started taking in water through the hole and began tilting.


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