Fears grow of environmental oil disaster from wrecked cruiser

Italian environment minister Corrado Clini said yesterday that some liquid material had started to leak but it was unclear if it was fuel.

Protective barriers are being put in place around the ship which has 500,000 gallons of fuel on board in 17 separate tanks.

As the death toll from the disaster rose to six, the owners of the Costa Concordia said the captain had sailed close to land to “show the ship to the port”. The chairman of Costa Cruises said the unauthorised deviation from the route had been taken to “make a salute”.

Pier Luigi Foschi apologised for the tragedy which has left dozens of people injured and the 114,000-tonne Costa Concordia lying on its side off Tuscany.

Sixteen people are still missing, including two Americans, but the rescue operation was suspended yesterday after the wreck shifted in rough seas. Sensors have been put in place to track its movements.

The liner’s captain, Francesco Schettino, is being investigated by prosecutors for possible manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck. He has been accused of leaving the vessel before ensuring that all of the 4,200 people aboard, including 35 Britons, were safely taken off, but insists he stayed with the vessel to the end.

Clarence Mitchell, who is representing Costa Cruises, said: “Mr Foschi confirmed the captain had been approaching the island of Giglio to ‘make a salute’.

“The company says this (incident) was caused by an attempt by the captain to show the ship to the port. But there’s a criminal investigation going on and we’re not going to say anything that’s going to compromise that or the captain’s case.”

Mr Foschi said the liner had passed all safety and technical tests in 2011. He said the captain had made an unauthorised and unapproved deviation from the ship’s programmed course.

“This route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a manoeuvre by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorised and unknown to Costa. Personally and on behalf of the Costa Cruises I want to say we are very sorry for this tragic accident that’s happened.”

Meanwhile prosecutor Francesco Verusio said: “We are struck by the unscrupulousness of the reckless manoeuvre that the commander of the Costa Concordia made near the island of Giglio.”

Capt Schettino, who has commanded the ship since it was built in 2006, has said he is not to blame and that charts did not show rocks off the island of Giglio.

Among the survivors was James Thomas, 19, from Sutton Coldfield, a dancer who helped to direct passengers off the vessel. He said people on board “knew something was deadly wrong” when the ship began to tilt, adding that the instruction to abandon ship should have been given “an hour earlier, if not more”.

Mr Thomas, who was unhurt, said: “I saw people with some horrific injuries and that is one thing which I am never going to be able to get out of my head.”

The company’s owner, Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator, said the disaster would wipe £62m from its profits this year.