Search for Concordia passengers suspended
Salvage work is expected to begin later today on the Costa Concordia as hopes fade that any more survivors will be found in the wreckage.
Rescue workers were forced to suspend their search for missing passengers this morning as the capsized vessel slipped again.
Eleven bodies have been recovered so far and 24 people remain missing from the 4,200 passenger ship.
Meanwhile it has emerged that the Costa Concordia sailed closer to Giglio island on a cruise last August than it did on Friday, when it hit rocks and ripped a hole in its hull.
According to the BBC, the route deviation on August 14 had apparently been authorized by the ship’s owner Costa Cruises to mark La Notte di San Lorenze – the night of the shooting stars festival on the island.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence told the BBC that satellite tracking information showed the vessel passed within 230m of the island on that occasion, although Costa claimed the ship was never close than 500 metres to the coast.
Costa insists lasts Friday’s deviation was unauthorized. The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino is under house arrest in Italy, accused of causing the crash by deliberately deviating from his fixed route and abandoning his ship before all passengers had been evacuated.
Schettino denies both charges but a phone conversation of him being ordered by the chief of the Livorno Port Authority to get back on board to co-ordinate the evacuation has been released to Italian newspapers.
He argued that after hitting rocks he had executed a difficult manoeuvre that had saved many people’s lives.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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