• Packed Italian court as captain in Concordia disaster hears evidence

    An Italian court will decide if Francesco Schettino, the captain of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship, should face a full trial next year for the deaths of 32 people. NBC's Claudio Lavanga reports.

    By Claudio Lavanga, NBC News

    GROSSETO, Italy -- The captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that crashed into an Italian reef appeared in court Monday to hear the evidence against him, while hundreds of passengers who survived the deadly shipwreck and the families of those who died in it showed up just "to look him in the eye."

    The case of Francesco Schettino, 51, was of such enormous interest that a theater had to be turned into a courtroom in the Tuscan city of Grosseto to accommodate all those who had a legitimate claim to be at the closed-door hearing over the disaster.

    As dozens of experts, lawyers and prosecutors packed the building, all eyes were on Schettino, who returned to Tuscany for the first time since his arrest to, in his own words, “Face my accusers.”

    In the next few days, Schettino, the eight other people accused, and the many survivors and families of victims, will learn if he will face charges over the deaths of 32 people after his ship run aground off Giglio island on Jan. 13.

    Schettino is accused of manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship while passengers and crew were still aboard. He denies the accusations and has not been charged. Any trial is unlikely to begin before next year. 

    “The sooner we can resolve it, the sooner the victims can get on with their lives, they can put this behind them. ... We are anxious to do that, but not so anxious to compromise on our will to change the industry for better standards,” John Arthur Eaves, Jr., an Alabama-based lawyer representing several American survivors of the disaster, told NBC News.


    Monday’s hearing was the first and most important in a preliminary trial, aimed at establishing who should be indicted over the disaster.

    Over the next few days experts, who were appointed at an earlier hearing in March, will present their analysis of the data retrieved from the black box, audio recordings and other on-board equipment.

    The hearing is off limits to the media, and the only way to learn what is happening inside is through lawyers and witnesses who emerge from the theater during breaks.

    Dramatic opening
    Schettino himself has become a lightning rod for international disdain for having left the ship before everyone was evacuated.

    As befitting a star attraction, the captain arrived Monday at the makeshift courthouse through the back door in a car with darkened windows.

    Costa Concordia captain admits he was 'distracted' by phone call

    "Schettino looked like he just walked out of a fashion magazine. He was dressed in a black suit, black tie, and was very tanned. He didn't betray any emotion, and took many notes,” Eaves told NBC.

    Even the weather added to the sense of drama.

    Codacons via Getty Images

    In this handout image, data from the Costa Concordia's black box reveals the moment when Capt. Francesco Schettino said "let's leave the ship" in the moments after the cruise liner collided with rocks in Grosseto, Italy.

    on October 15, 2012 in Grosseto, Italy. (Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images)

    A massive storm, nicknamed Cleopatra by Italian meteorologists, hit Grosseto a couple of hours after the hearing began, dumping rain on members of the media waiting outside.

    A group of German survivors said Schettino was seen biting his nails, and another witness claimed to have seen him shaking hands with another survivor.

    "We want to look him in the eye to see how he will react to the accusations," said survivor Michael Liessen, 50, who was attending with his wife. 

    Schettino is one of nine people facing charges, although eyewitnesses, leaked audio and video recordings, a pre-trial report and even the liner’s owners, Costa Crociere (a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival), appeared to put the blame squarely on him.

    Wider fault?
    However, Eaves, the American lawyer, suggested the fault may lie wider.

    "It was just said in court that musicians on board had more safety training than other crew members," Eaves told NBC.

    Costa Concordia cruise ship captain says sacking unfair

    “We are not going to save lives if we don’t change the standards in the whole industry, not only of this particular captain,” he added.

    Slideshow: Luxury cruise ship runs aground

    Remo Casilli / Reuters

    The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy killing 32 people - including two Americans.

    Launch slideshow

    It is alleged Schettino was in command when he steered the gigantic ship too close to Giglio coastline, allegedly to perform a maritime salute to grant a favor to the ship’s head master, who was originally from the island.

    The Concordia hit a reef, tearing a 160-ft. gash in her hull, taking in water and eventually running aground yards from the island’s port.

    Video taken by passengers at the time showed scenes of chaos and confusion as the Costa Concordia started to list heavily.

    In the intervening months, Schettino has sought to restore his reputation and set the record straight by giving his version of events.

    His strategy has not met with widespread approval.

    An angry member of an Italian consumer association told NBC News it would be raising a formal objection to Schettino’s presence in court.

    “We are losing sight of the victims of this tragedy, but they could line the pockets of the shamed captain,” the member said.

    Complete Europe coverage on NBCNews.com

    Many questions
    Expert evidence will have to address many questions, among them:

    Did Schettino make a personal and fatal mistake in taking the ship too close to the island, or should, as he claims, the blame be shared with other crew members?

    Six months after the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster, some of the survivors say that they have learned the cruise industry has a "lack of oversight." Hundreds of survivors are challenging the settlements offered to them and calling for an overhaul of the industry.  Rock Center's Harry Smith reports.

    Did Schettino voluntarily abandon the ship hours before all passengers were evacuated?

    Did he delay the call to abandon the ship, further endangering passengers?

    Did he really save hundreds of lives by steering the ship as close as possible to the coast, as he claims, guided by a “divine hand”?

    A pre-trial report, leaked to Italian media weeks before the trial, places much of the blame on Schettino.

    Costa Concordia disaster spawns shipwreck tourism for Italian island

    The 270-page report, compiled by maritime experts appointed by the court, reveals that the captain abandoned the Costa Concordia hours before the last of the passengers had reached safety and was slow in issuing the order to abandon ship and alerting port authorities.

    But the experts -- two admirals and two engineers -- also note that evacuation drills had not been undertaken by all passengers on the ship and not all crew members understood Italian, the operating language of the liner.

    “You find a consistent pattern of a lack of discipline on crew training, on the design of the vessel, on the communication problems. They go back to standards that were set up by Carnival in the United States. This captain made a horrible mistake, but we are not going to save lives if we don’t change the standards in the whole industry, not only of this particular captain,” Eaves said.

    Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

    An Indonesian helmsman, for instance, failed twice to understand orders, veering to the right instead of the left as he was told by Schettino, who joked he should pay closer attention or “we will go on the rocks,” only minutes before they dram aground.

    A local newspaper said Monday the captain’s lawyers told the judge and prosecutors to “consider the position of the helmsman.”

    Schettino, they seem to suggest, was not the only one to blame.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Ship owner: 'Significant human error' by captain likely

    Divers were out in cold water, searching for survivors after the Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports from the Italian coast.

     

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    Updated at 4:45 p.m. ET:
    The owner of the capsized Italian cruise ship issued a statement Sunday saying it appears the ship's captain was at fault. in the tragedy that has claimed at least five lives. Fifteen more people, including two Americans, are still missing.  

    "While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship's master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences," Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Corp., stated. "The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and in handling the emergency the captain appears not to have followed standard Costa procedures."

    Updated at 3 p.m. ET:
    The captain was spotted on land during the evacuation, and he ignored pleas by officers that he return to his ship and honor his duty to stay aboard until everyone else was safely off the vessel, a Coast Guard official said Sunday.

    "We did our duty," Italian Coast Guard Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo told The Associated Press, referring to efforts to get Francesco Schettino back on the Costa Concordia Friday night.

    Safety standards require cruise ships to have public address systems, enclosed lifeboats and evacuation chutes. NBC's Mark Potter has more.

     Schettino, who is in police custody while officials investigate the cause, has insisted he didn't leave the liner before all passengers were off, saying "we were the last ones to leave the ship."

    According to the Italian navigation code, a captain who abandons a ship in danger can face up to 12 years in prison.

    Slideshow: Luxury ship runs aground

    Updated at 12:15 p.m. ET:
    Divers searching for missing passengers and crew from the capsized Italian cruise ship found two more bodies on Sunday but are facing dangerous obstacles themselves.

    The vessel could suddenly move and sink into deeper waters, and floating objects inside the ship as well as muck are hindering divers.

    "There are tents, mattresses, other objects moving which can get tangled in the divers' equipment," Italian Coast Guard Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro said Sunday.

    Enzo Russo / AFP - Getty Images

    Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia, is taken into custody in Grosseto, Italy, on Saturday.

    Officials were going to huddle soon to see how long the underwater search could safely continue, he said.

    In order to find their way out, divers are using a long cord they hook near the point of entrance and unroll as they work. 

    Three people have been found alive after most of the 4,200 passengers and crew escaped on life boats, fishing boats and even swimming to shore, but 5 are confirmed dead and 15 more are missing.

    Updated at 10:40 a.m. ET:
    Two more bodies were recovered from the capsized Italian cruise ship, raising the official death toll to 5, as investigators looked into accusations that the captain abandoned ship early.

    Patrick Capito was a passenger on the capsized Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia and describes swimming to shore after attempts to get into a life raft failed.

    The bodies of two elderly men still in their life jackets were recovered by divers at the emergency gathering point near a restaurant area. Fifteen people are still unaccounted for. Two of those are U.S. citizens, the U.S. Embassy in Rome said.

    Updated at 10:10 a.m. ET:
    Two survivors of the Italian cruise ship that hit a reef are among those who said the captain abandoned ship early. A prosecutor earlier said he's investigating those allegations.

    Ophelie Gondelle and David Du Pays of Marseille, France, said they saw the captain in a lifeboat, covered by a blanket, well before all the passengers were off the ship. They insisted on telling a reporter what they saw, so incensed that — according to them — the captain had abandoned the ship before everyone had been evacuated.

    "The commander left before and was on the dock before everyone was off," said Gondelle, 28, a French military officer.

    Two of the 129 Americans who escaped injury when a submerged rock brought down a cruise ship shortly after departing an Italian port Friday tell TODAY's Lester Holt that the crew appeared was unprepared and unsure about emergency procedures.

    "Normally the commander should leave at the end," said Du Pays, a police officer who said he helped an injured passenger to a rescue boat. "I did what I could."

    Updated at 7:25 a.m. ET:
    An Italian prosecutor confirms he's investigating allegations from passengers and others that the captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia abandoned the stricken liner before all the passengers had left.

    Officials believe the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, had brought the 114,500-tonne vessel too close to the shore, where it struck the rock, tearing a large gash in the hull.

    Stringer/Italy / Reuters

    A combination photo shows a South Korean couple after they were rescued from the Costa Concordia.

    Three people are confirmed dead after the huge cruise ship carrying more than 4,200 people ran aground on Friday night. Three people -- a South Korean couple and a crew member -- have reportedly been rescued.

    Rescuers found the crew member, chief purser Manrico Gianpetroni, after hearing his screams. He suffered a broken leg, Reuters reports.

    Rescue crews were searching for 17 missing people in our around the ship, down from around 40 people who were unaccounted for right after the luxury liner went down, Sky News reports. 

    Updated at 6:50 a.m. ET:
    The U.S. Embassy in Rome issues a statement revising the number of Americans estimated on board the Costa Concordia to 125 from 126.

    "We continue to account for and provide emergency assistance to them," the Embassy via Twitter.

    Panic ensues after a luxury cruise ship dubbed the "Floating Temple of Fun" runs aground off Italy. NBC's Claudio Lavanga reports.

     

    A Korean couple on their honeymoon were taken off the ship early on Sunday.  A third person, reportedly a crew member, was being removed late Sunday morning, according to Sky News.


    Updated at 5:50 a.m. ET:
    Reuters reports that teams are painstakingly checking thousands of rooms on the Costa Concordia for the nearly 40 people still missing after the huge vessels foundered and keeled over with more than 4,000 n board, killing at least three and injuring 70.
    A Korean couple on their honeymoon were taken off the ship early on Sunday.  A third person, reportedly a crew member, was being removed late Sunday morning.
    Reuters adds:
    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 on Sunday, a team made voice contact with a third survivor still on board the ship. "We are doing the impossible to reach this person," coast guard 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.
     
    Updated at 5:43 a.m. ET:
    Sky News is reporting that a rescue team has placed a third survivor on a stretcher and are in the process of removing him from the ship.

    Updated at 5:20 a.m. ET: 
    A third survivor was located inside the overturned Costa Concordia cruise ship off the western coast of Italy, a spokesman for Italian firefighters told The Associated Press on Sunday.

    Rescuers had spoken to the person inside the ship but the survivor had not yet been removed, Luca Cari told the AP.

    Published at 4:45 a.m. ET: 
    Rescue crews circling the wreckage of a cruise ship that ran aground off the Tuscan coast have heard sounds from within the ship, Britain's Sky News reported on Sunday.

     
    Sources said that fire department crews had heard sounds from deck 3, Sky reported. A few dozen people remained unaccounted for.
     
    Crews in dinghies were seen Sunday morning touching the hull with their hands. They were near the site of the 160-foot-long gash where water flooded in and caused the ship to fall on its side.
     
    Coast guard officials have said divers will try to enter the belly of the ship in case anyone is still inside Italian news reports quoting local officials say some 40 people remain unaccounted for out of the 4,200 passengers and crew. Three people are confirmed dead.
     
    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
     
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  • Couple rescued 24 hours after cruise ship capsizes off Italy

    Gregorio Borgia / AP

    Rocks emerge from the damaged side of the Costa Concordia.

    By NBC, msnbc.com staff and news services

    Updated 9:54 p.m. ET: Two survivors of a cruise ship grounding who were found nearly a day after the ship rolled onto its side have been identified as a South Korean couple on their honeymoon.

    Prato fire commander Vincenzo Bennardo told The Associated Press that rescuers who had been banging on doors of the ship cabins all night finally heard a reply from one of the rooms early Sunday. He said the two, about 29 years old, were in good condition. He said the rescuers never stopped going door-to-door during the night in the non-submerged part of the ship.

    The Costa Concordia hit a reef during dinner Friday and capsized off Tuscany, forcing the evacuation of about 4,200 people. Three bodies were found and about 40 people remained unaccounted for.

    Updated 6:55 p.m. ET: Rescue workers found two people still alive on a capsized Italian cruise ship, state television reported Sunday, according to Reuters.

    The Italian news agency ANSA quoted rescuers as saying the two survivors were found in good condition in a cabin late Saturday and were being brought out.

    Fire officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment near the tiny island of Giglio, where the Costa Concordia went aground and turned on its side Friday night, leaving three people dead and forcing some 4,000 aboard to evacuate.

    Firefighters on the ship had heard the voices of a man and a woman several decks below where they were searching.

    More than 4,200 passengers were aboard the Costa Concordia when it apparently struck rocks near the coast of Tuscany late Friday, ripping a hole in its hull and forcing thousands to escape in a chaotic, terrifying evacuation.

    Three bodies have been recovered and authorities said late Saturday that about 40 people were still unaccounted for.

    Updated 5:55 p.m. ET: The captain of the 4,200-pasenger luxury cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Tuscany has been detained, authorities said Saturday.

    Francesco Schettino is being investigated for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, police said, according to Reuters. He was taken to a jail in the provincial capital Grosseto to await questioning by a magistrate.

    Three bodies were recovered from the sea after the Costa Concordia ran aground near the coast of Tuscany late Friday, ripping a hole in its hull and forcing thousands to escape in a chaotic, terrifying evacuation. Some 40 people are still unaccounted for.

    Experts have questioned how Schettino, the 52-year-old captain with 11 years working for the ship's owner, could hit so close to the island of Giglio given Italy's well mapped sea lanes.

    Panic ensues after a luxury cruise ship dubbed the "Floating Temple of Fun" runs aground off Italy. NBC's Claudio Lavanga reports.

    The chief prosecutor in the Tuscan city of Grosseto, Francesco Verusio, was quoted by the ANSA news agency as telling reporters that the captain "very ineptly got close to Giglio," The Associated Press reported.

    "The ship struck a reef that got stuck inside the left side, making it (the ship) lean over and take on a lot of water in the space of two, three minutes," he said.

    Schettino was at the command, and it was "he who ordered the route, that's what it appears to us. It was a deliberate" choice to follow that route, ANSA quote him as saying.

    Get the latest updates from breakingnews.com

    Slideshow: Luxury ship runs aground

    It quoted Schettino's lawyer, Bruno Leporatti as saying his client understands why he was being detained but that "as his defender, I'd like to say that several hundred people owed their life to the expertise that the commander of the Costa Concordia showed during the emergency."

    ANSA quoted Francesco Schettino's sister, Giulia, as saying her brother called their mother, 80-year-old Rosa, at 5 in the morning, saying "Mamma, there has been a tragedy. But stay calm. I tried to save the passengers. But for a while, I won't be able to phone you."

    Schettino hails from Meta di Sorrento, in the Naples area where many of Italy's ferry and cruise boat captains are from. Giulia Schettino was quoted by ANSA as saying that he also asked to speak to his brother, Salvatore, who also is a sailor, to tell him what happened aboard.

    ANSA reported Schettino was taken to Grosseto's jail, to be held until next week, when a judge will decide whether he should be released or formally put under arrest. The courthouse was closed late Saturday and couldn't be reached.

    In Italy, suspects can be held without charge for a few days for investigation. A judge must either validate the jailing, putting the suspect under arrest, or declare him free to go.

    A U.S. State Department official says the latest estimate is that there were 126 Americans among the 4,200-plus people aboard the Costa Concordia. No Americans were injured, the official said.

    This is the second fatal accident involving a Costa ship in the past two years. In February 2010, Costa Europa collided with a pier in Egypt, killing three crewmembers.


    Updated 1:35 p.m. ET:     Italian authorities were questioning the captain of the 4,200-passenger luxury cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, CNN reports.

    Authorities want to know why the ship didn't issue a mayday call during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, according to the report.

    "At the moment we can't exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn't send a mayday," said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno, accordng to CNN. "The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing."

    The captain, Francesco Schettino, was being interviewed by investigators, Del Santo said.

    Three bodies have been recovered and 70 people are still unaccounted for.

    Meanwhile, Costa Cruises, the company that runs the ship, has issued a statement that reads in part:

    "On the basis of the initial evidence - still preliminary - Costa Concordia, under the command of Master Francesco Schettino, was sailing its regularly scheduled itinerary from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when the ship struck a submerged rock.

    "Captain Schettino, who was on the bridge at the time, immediately understood the severity of the situation and performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew, and initiated security procedures to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation.

    "Unfortunately, that operation was complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship that made disembarkation difficult.

     Original story:

    PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy -- Survivors from a luxury cruise ship that ran aground and tipped over in shallow waters off the coast of Tuscany on Saturday recounted scenes of chaos, with frightened passengers crawling along upended hallways and some leaping into the sea trying to reach safety.

    "Have you seen 'Titanic?' That's exactly what it was," said Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles who was traveling with her sister and parents on the first of two cruises around the Mediterranean. They all bore dark red bruises on their knees from the desperate crawl they endured along nearly vertical hallways and stairwells, trying to reach rescue boats.

    Three bodies were recovered from the sea after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the tiny island of Giglio near the coast of Tuscany late Friday, tearing a 160-foot gash in its hull and sending in a rush of water. Italian news agency ANSA said the dead were two French passengers and a Peruvian crewman.

    Up to 70 people were still unaccounted for Saturday among the more than 4,300 passengers and crew who were on board, the Italian coast guard said.

    Cmmdr. Cosimo Nicastro, spokesman for the Italian coast guard, told Sky TG24 TV there were no firm indications that anyone was trapped inside the ship. But he noted rescuers carried out an extensive search of the waters near the ship for hours and "we would have seen bodies."

    He said it's possible those unaccounted for "might be is in the belly of the ship."

    NBC's Claudio Lavanga reports.

    The U.S. Embassy in Rome estimated 100 Americans may have been on board. There were no reports of serious injuries to Americans, based on information provided by local officials.

    By Saturday morning, the ship was lying virtually flat off Giglio's coast, its starboard side submerged in the water and the huge gash showing clearly on its upturned hull.

    Nicastro said divers will continue to search for survivors for the next two or three days. It's a dangerous operation because the ship could sink another 230 feet, he said.

    Passengers who escaped complained the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate and once the emergency became clear, delayed lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many of them to be released.

    Passengers: 'Unorganized' crew, no evacuation drills
    Melissa Goduti, 28, of Wallingford, Connecticut, who had set out on the cruise of the Mediterranean hours earlier, called the entire trip "unorganized" from the start.

    "It was so unorganized. Our evacuation drill was [not] scheduled [until] 5 p.m." said. "We had joked, 'What if something had happened today?'"

    "We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing," said Ananias'  mother, Georgia Ananias, 61. "We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls."

    She choked up as she recounted the moment when an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship lurched to the side and the family found themselves standing on a wall. "He said 'take my baby,'" Georgia Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand as she teared up. "I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn't want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn't hold her.

    "I thought that was the end and I thought they should be with their baby," she said.

    Stringer/ Reuters

    Passengers arrive at Porto Santo Stefano after a cruise ship ran aground

    Passenger Maria Parmegiano Alfonsi told Sky Italia television that they were "sitting down to dinner and we heard this big bang."

    "I think it hit some rocks. There was a lot of panic, the tables overturned, glasses were flying all over the place and we ran for the decks where we put on our lifevests," she said.

    "We had a blackout and everybody was just screaming. All the passengers were running up and down and then we went to our cabins to get to know what is going on," said another passenger, who did not give his name.

    "They said we should stay calm, it is nothing, it's just some electrical problem or just some blackout thing," the man added.

    Helicopters plucked to safety some people who were trapped on the ship, some survivors were rescued by boats in the area, and witnesses said some people jumped from the ship into the dark, cold sea.

    Passengers Alan and Laurie Willits from Wingham, Ontario, celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, said they were watching the magic show in the ship's main theater when they felt an inital lurch, as if from a severe steering maneuver, followed a few seconds later by a "shudder" that tipped trash cans over. The subsequent listing of the ship made the theater curtains seem like they were standing on their side.

    "And then the magician disappeared," Laurie Willits said, and panicked audience members fled for their cabins as well.

    Once at their life boat station, crew members directed passengers to go upstairs from the fourth floor deck; Alan Willits said he refused.

    "I said 'No, this isn't right.' And I came out and I argued, 'When you get this boat stabilized, I'll go up to the fifth floor then," he said. Eventually, his lifeboat was lowered down.

    But things didn't improve for passengers once they were on safe ground.

    "No one counted us, neither in the lifeboats nor on land," said Ophelie Gondelle, 28, a French military officer from Marseille. She said there had been no evacuation drill since she boarded in Marseille, France on Jan. 8.

    The evacuees were taking refuge in schools, hotels, and a church on Giglio, a popular vacation isle about 18 miles off Italy's central west coast.

    Passengers sat dazed in a middle school opened for them, wrapped in wool or aluminum blankets, with some wearing their life preservers and their shoeless feet covered with aluminum foil. Civil protection crews served them warm tea and bread, but confusion reigned supreme as passengers tried desperately to find the right bus to begin their journey home.

    Tanja Berto, from Ebenfurth, Austria, was shuttled from one line to another with her mother and 2-year-old son Bruno, trying to figure out how to get back to Savona, where they began their cruise a week ago.

    "It's his birthday today," she said of her son, rolling her eyes as she held Bruno and tended to her mother, who had grown faint and was lying on the ground. "Happy birthday, Bruno."

    The island's mayor, Sergio Ortelli, issued an appeal for islanders — "anyone with a roof" — to open their homes to shelter the evacuees.

    Coast Guard Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo said the exact circumstances of the accident were still unclear, but that the first alarm went off about 10:30 p.m., about three hours after the Concordia had begun its voyage from the port of Civitavecchia, en route to its first port of call, Savona, in northwestern Italy.


    Paolillo, speaking from the port captain's office in the Tuscan port of Livorno, said the vessel "hit an obstacle" — it wasn't clear if it might have hit a rocky reef in the waters off Giglio — "ripping a gash 50 meters (160 feet) across" in the side of the ship, and started taking on water.

    The cruise liner's captain, Paolillo said, then 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, lifeboat evacuation was no longer feasible, Paolillo said, so authorities dispatched helicopters.

    Costa Cruises said the Costa Concordia was sailing on a cruise across the Mediterranean Sea, starting from Civitavecchia with scheduled calls to Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.

    The Concordia had a previous accident in Italian waters, ANSA reported. In 2008, when strong winds buffeted Palermo, the cruise ship banged against the Sicilian port's dock, and suffered damage but no one was injured, ANSA said.

    NBC News, The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this story.

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