Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia: Search for missing
The BBC's Alan Johnston says it "must have been an extraordinarily harrowing experience"
Emergency teams in Italy are racing to rescue those missing after a cruise ship ran aground off the country's west coast with about 4,000 people on board.
Coast guard vessels are combing the waters around the Costa Concordia, which is lying on its side. Divers are searching its submerged decks.
There were scenes of panic as it began listing on Friday. Most people reached land by lifeboats but some swam ashore.
Three people are confirmed dead. About 70 are said to be unaccounted for.
However, local official Giuseppe Linardi told reporters that some of those listed as missing may still be housed in private homes on the small island of Giglio - where those rescued reached land.
BBC's Adam Parsons: "You can see a huge gash, perhaps fifty metres long"
A large gash can be seen in the hull of the luxury liner as it lies on its side, about 200m from Giglio.
Italian, German, French and British nationals were among the 3,200 passengers on board. There were also 1,000 crew.
Analysis
Richard Westcott BBC transport correspondent
Investigators will now look into every aspect of this accident, but one of the key elements they will examine will be the electrical systems.
Modern ships tend to use electrical generators to drive the engines, so a power cut can leave the captain unable to steer away from danger.
Human error could also be a factor, and there will also be concern at the speed which the ship listed on to its side. Not only would that have been frightening, it seems to have affected the crew's ability to launch some of the lifeboats.
All ships have to meet safety standards set out by the International Maritime Organisation. Crews are trained to deal with emergencies, and cruise companies stress this kind of accident is rare.
Some passengers were rescued by lifeboat, helicopters plucked to safety some who were trapped on the ship, and others jumped from the ship into the cold sea.
Some of the survivors are suffering from shock. About 40 people are being treated in hospital.
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 bodies.
But he added that there still might be some "in the belly of the ship".
'Delayed drill'
The Costa Concordia had sailed from Civitavecchia near Rome on Friday morning for a Mediterranean cruise when it hit rocks off Giglio late that evening.
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."
"There was panic, like in a film, dishes crashing to the floor, people running, people falling down the stairs?
Fulvio Rocci Survivor"The ship started taking in water through the hole and began tilting."
Some passengers told the Associated Press news agency that the crew had failed to give instructions on how to evacuate the ship.
An evacuation drill was scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
"It was so unorganised, our evacuation drill was scheduled for 17:00 (16:00 GMT)," Melissa Goduti, 28, from the US told AP. "We had joked what if something had happened today."
Passenger Mara Parmegiani told Italian media there were "scenes of panic".
"We were very scared and freezing because it happened while we were at dinner so everyone was in evening wear.
"We definitely didn't have time to get anything else. They gave us blankets but there weren't enough," she said.
Several passengers compared the accident to the film Titanic, about the sinking of the giant ocean liner in April 1912 which claimed more than 1,500 lives.
The cruise operators thanked the citizens of Giglio for rescuing those on board "I can easily understand the comparisons to the film, how it must have been on the Titanic, or in a fiction film," passenger Francesca Sinatra said.
Hypothermia Some "tens" of British passengers are believed to have been on board, said the UK Foreign Office, which has sent a team to the area.
Rescued passengers were initially accommodated in hotels, schools and a church on Giglio.
Costa Concordia
- Entered service in 2006
- Built by Fincantieri in Italy at a cost of 450m euros (?372m; $570m)
- Capacity for 3,780 passengers
- 1,500 cabins, five restaurants and 13 bars
- Four swimming pools
- A 6,000 sq m (64,600 sq ft) spa with gym, sauna, Turkish bath and solarium
- Sports pitch, cinema, theatre, casino and disco
Source: Costa Cruises and cruise industry websites
Those taken to Giglio have now been moved to the mainland, Elizabeth Nanni from the island's tourist information service told the BBC.
"Usually there are 700 people on the island at this time of year, so receiving 4,000 and some in the middle of the night wasn't easy," she said. "Some people jumped in the sea so they had hypothermia."
Coast guard official Francesco Paolillo, a local coast guard official, told the AFP news agency it was too early to say what exactly had happened.
"We think this happened as a result of sailing too close to an obstacle like a reef," he said.
Costa Cruises, the company which owns the ship, said it could not yet say what had caused the accident.
"The gradual listing of the ship made the evacuation extremely difficult," a statement said.
"We'd like to express our deepest gratitude to the coastguard and other emergency services, including the authorities and citizens of the island of Giglio, who did their best in saving and helping the passengers and crew."
Two years ago, a Costa Cruises ship crashed into a dock at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, killing three members of the crew.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16561904
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