Survivors plucked from Italian shipwreck

huge vessel foundered and keeled over with more than 4 000 on board, killing at least three people and injuring 70.
The task is akin to searching a small town – but one tilted on its side, and largely in darkness and submerged in freezing water. Scores of divers were taking part.
Just after dawn yesterday, a team made voice contact with a third survivor still on board the ship. “We are doing the impossible to reach this person,” coastguard spokesman Luciano Nicastro told Italian television.
After midnight, rescue workers had found the two South Koreans still alive in a cabin, after locating them from several decks above, and brought them ashore, looking dazed but unharmed.
The captain of the luxury 114 500-tonne ship, Francesco Schettino, was under arrest and accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, Italian police said.
Passengers, comparing the disaster to the movie “Titanic”, told of people leaping into the sea and fighting over lifejackets in panic when the ship hit a rock and ran aground near the island of Giglio, late on Friday.
Two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member were dead and 38 people were unaccounted for.
Rescue workers including specialist diving teams were working their way through more than 2 000 cabins on the ship, a floating resort that boasted a huge spa, seven restaurants, bars, cinemas and discotheques.
As the search continued, there were demands for explanations of why the vessel had come so close to the shore and bitter complaints about how long it took to evacuate the terrified passengers after the ship ran aground late on Friday.
State prosecutor Francesco Verusio said investigations might go beyond the captain.
“We are investigating the possible responsibility of other people who could be responsible for such a dangerous manoeuvre,” he told SkyTG24 television. “The command systems did not function as they should have.”
There were fears the death toll could rise after considerable confusion on Saturday over the number of missing passengers.
Magistrates said Schettino, whose ship was carrying 4 229 passengers and crew, abandoned the vessel before all the passengers were taken off.
The vessel’s operator, Costa Crociere, a unit of Carnival Corp & Plc, the world’s largest cruise company, said the Costa Concordia had been sailing on its regular course when it struck a submerged rock.
In a television interview, Schettino said the rock was not marked on any maritime charts of the area.
Costa Crociere president Gianni Ororato said the captain “performed a manoeuvre intended to protect both guests and crew” but it was “complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship”.
“We’ll be able to say at the end of the investigation. It would be premature to speculate on this,” said coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini.
After a night-time operation on Friday and Saturday involving helicopters, ships and lifeboats, many passengers had left the area with many taken to Rome airport for flights home. The ship was involved in an accident on November 22, 2008 when it hit a port wall and was damaged while docking. Local officials expressed concern the fuel on the ship, at full load as it had just begun the cruise, could spill into the pristine waters. However by early Sunday, there was no sign of any pollution damage. – Reuters.