Cruise ship lists 80 degrees, search for missing continues
Date: Jan 14, 2012
Rome, January 14, 2012 (Tehelkanews)
A cruise ship that ran aground off Italy’s western coast was listing 80 degrees to one side and had a 70-metre crack in its hull, reports said Saturday.
Local officials amended the death toll, saying three, not six, people had been confirmed dead so far. It was unclear how many people were still missing. Rescuers searched the waters throughout the night and into the day, Ansa news agency said.
Some victims died while attempting to swim to shore after the captain ordered the ship’s evacuation, rescuers said.
The Costa Concordia liner, with 4,229 people on board, had set off from the port of Civitavecchia, near Rome, on Friday for the start of a Mediterranean cruise when its crew signalled an electrical fault to port authorities.
According to reports, the Genoa-based vessel apparently veered from its course and struck a shoal off Giglio island, rolling onto one side.
Shipowner Costa Crociere said it was not immediately “possible to determine the cause of the problem.” Passengers said all lights aboard the vessel suddenly went out while they were having dinner.
“Then we heard a bang and a roar and the cutlery fell to the ground,” Luciana Castro, a journalist aboard, told Ansa.
“It was like a scene from the Titanic,” added Mara Parmegiani, another journalist, in a reference to the famous passenger liner that sunk almost 100 years ago, on April 15, 1912.
Passengers included about 1,000 Italians, some 500 Germans and about 150 French.
