Divers to scour ship’s depths in hope of finding more survivors

Italian investigators will also widen inquiries into how the ship keeled over after running aground off the Italian coast late on Friday.

Attention is expected to centre on the evacuation of the 4,200 passengers and crew from the stricken vessel. Some people jumped overboard in the scramble to evacuate the ship which was on a Mediterranean cruise.

There will also be a focus on the design of the ship which was left with a gaping 160-foot hole in its hull where water flooded in after it struck rocks near the tiny island of Giglio, about 18 miles off Italy’s central west coast.

A helicopter yesterday airlifted a third survivor from the capsized hulk. The crew member was found by search teams who late on Saturday night heard screams for help from a South Korean couple in a part of the ship which remained above the water line.

Authorities are holding the captain for suspected manslaughter among other possible charges over the disaster.

Coastguard Commander Francesco Paolillo said the liner’s captain tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio’s small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier. But after the ship started listing badly onto its right side, lifeboat evacuation was no longer feasible.

Terrifying accounts of the moments before the ship foundered have continued to emerge.

Survivor John Rodford said staff gave incorrect information as the drama unfolded while he and his wife were dining.

“They said ‘No, it’s all right, it’s just a malfunction in the engines,” he said. “Then it started tilting the other way and the plates came off the tables.”

He said passengers scrambled for lifejackets and the couple slid across the deck to find a lifeboat.

He said it was “chefs and waiters” helping passengers flee.

“The people who served us our dinner, were the people who helped us get on the lifeboats and were manning the lifeboats. I didn’t see captains’ jackets and things like that. It was dinner staff,” he said.

At Mass yesterday in Giglio’s main church, which opened its doors to the evacuees on Friday, altar boys and girls brought up to the altar a life vest, a rope and a rescue helmet.

Don Lorenzo, the parish priest, said he wanted to make this “different” offering to God as a memory of what had happened.

Karen Jacques, chief operating officer of Dryad Maritime, which provides advice to mariners, said among the key questions were the speed of the ship, its route, what decisions the captain took and the conduct of the evacuation.

She said the collision could have been down to human error or equipment failure but it was likely there was a chain of events possibly involving both.

“My greatest concern as a seagoer is that it seems to have begun listing quite quickly,” she said.

It suggested a potential problem below the water line. Investigators needed to study whether compartments were locked down properly or if there was a problem with the bulkheads.

Ship owner Costa Crociera SpA yesterday defended the actions of its crew and said it was co-operating with the investigation.

It said about 1,000 Italian passengers were onboard, 500 Germans, 160 French and 1,000 crew members.