Francesco Schettino, master of the 114.500 gross ton Costa Concordia that ran aground on Friday night on the west coast of Italy, had told Italian television that the vessel had hit a rocky spur while cruising in waters which, according to the charts, should have been safe.

"As we were navigating at cruise speed, we hit a rocky spur," he was quoted by the Daily Telegraph’s website as saying. The website citedTgcom24 television station: "According to the nautical chart, there should have been sufficient water underneath us," he added.

However, earlier today Daily Telegraph reported on its website that Fabio Costa, who worked in a shop on the stricken cruise ship, said: "We just saw a huge rock, that was probably where the ship hit, and people were having huge trouble trying to get on the lifeboats. So at that point we didn't know what to do so it took hours for people to get off the ship.”

Cruise Business Online comment: These reports suggest that power failure has unlikely been the cause of the accident, as had been suggested by one commentator earlier. If Fabio Costa saw the rocks the ship presumably hit after the accident, why did the master and the bridge team not see them before the impact?

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UPDATE 3: The master of Costa Concordia, the Costa Crociere cruise ship that ran aground on Friday evening, was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship, said a local prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy, CNN reports on its website.

Three people are confirmed dead and 70 are still missing. the 2006 built 114,500 gross ton he ship has capsized in shallow water. 

“The captain, Francesco Schettino, had been earlier interviewed by investigators in Porto Santo Stefano about what happened when the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia struck rocks in shallow water off Italy's western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.”

“Authorities were looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night,” officials told CNN.

"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. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing," Del Santo said prior to the announcement of the arrest.

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UPDATE 2: Sixty-nine persons remained unaccounted for Saturday afternoon after the grounding and partial sinking of Costa Crociere’s 114,500 gross ton Costa Concordia on the west coast of Italy last night, while the number of casualties ranges from three to six, media reports say. Some passengers say that they heard an explosion on board before the vessel ran aground, a report on the website of the London based Daily Telegraph says.

An explosion heard by some of the passengers on board may have been caused by a phenomenon known as “harmonic interference”, according to Malcolm Latarche, the editor of the global shipping magazine IHS Fairplay Solutions. Mr Latarche said that the ship was powered by a bank of six diesel-electric engines which effectively worked as an on-board power station designed to supply electricity to all parts of the vessel., the report said.

But like power stations on land, the engines are prone to electrical surges and troughs caused by “harmonic interference”. Mr Latarche added: “From the reports I have seen it seems there was an explosion followed by a blackout which could have been caused by a power surge. There are various back-up systems in place on all ships but they may have failed also."

Mr Latarche said it was possible the cruise ship experienced the same problem that saw the Queen Mary 2 lose power in September 2010 as she was approaching Barcelona. He continued: “Once you have a problem with the electric supply to the ship’s main propulsion motors that could lead to a problem with steering. Once you are in a position where you cannot control a ship's speed and direction you have a problem until you can get those systems back on line. It seems that this may have happened quite close to land, in shallow water. When you can’t steer you are going to run aground and hit rocks at some point.”

The Costa Crociera company said the evacuation of the ship started promptly, but the operation was hindered as the vessel started to list on one side. Some passengers claimed that the crew had failed to give instructions on how to evacuate the ship. An evacuation drill was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, the Daily Telegraph report said.

 

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UPDATE 1: Costa Concordia, the Italian cruise ship that ran aground last night on the west coast of Italy, is lying half submerged on its starboard side in about 80 degree angle in shallow water near the island of Giglio, images in the media show. Three persons have been confirmed dead so far against earlier reports that said the fatalities would number at least six.

The cause of the accident remains unknown.

Also, it is not known at this point whether the ship would be salvaged or declared a constructive total loss (CTL), whereby underwriters would pay Costa Crociere the insured value of the vessel and sell the wreck most likely for scrap.

Cruise Business Online will follow developments and further updates will be posted as more news emerge. 

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At least six people are reported dead after Costa Crociere’s 114,5000 gross ton Costa Concordia with more than 4,000 people on board ran aground off Italy, the BBC reports on its website. 

The Costa Concordia hit a sandbar on Friday evening near the island of Giglio and listed about 20 degrees, after which people tried to reach land in lifeboats or by swimming. The dead are believed to be people who jumped from the ship and attempted to swim ashore but drowned, a crew member interviwed by BBC by telephone said.

The last 50 people on board are being evacuated by helicopter in a "worsening" situation. Italians, Germans, French and British were among the 3,200 passengers. In addition, 1,000 crew were on board the vessel. One thousand passengers were Italian, with 500 Germans and 160 French. Some media reports said eight people had died.

The Costa Concordia, which was built in 2006,  had sailed earlier on Friday from Civitavecchia port near Rome for a Mediterranean cruise, due to dock in Marseille after calling at ports in Sicily, Sardinia and Spain.

Cabin steward Deodato Ordona says the ship suddenly began to list. Passengers were eating dinner on Friday evening, when they heard a loud bang, and were told that the ship had suffered electrical problems, one passenger told Italy's Ansa news agency. "We were having supper when the lights suddenly went out, we heard a boom and a groaning noise, and all the cutlery fell on the floor," said Luciano Castro.

The 290-metre (950 ft) vessel ran aground, starting taking in water and listing by 20 degrees, the local coast guard said. Orders were given to abandon ship, Deodato Ordona, a cabin steward on the Costa Concordia, told the BBC. "We announced a general emergency and took passengers to muster stations," he said. (NB: General emergency signal is not order to abandon ship, but to proceed to muster station – CB note)

"But it is hard to launch the lifeboats, so they moved to the right side of the ship, and they could launch." Elderly passengers were crying, said Mr Ordona, adding that he and some others jumped into the sea and swam roughly 400 metres to reach land. Rescued passengers are being accommodated in hotels, schools and a church on Giglio, a resort island 25km (18 miles) off Italy's western coast. Searches are still going on for "possible missing people", regional official Giuseppe Linardi told the Italian broadcaster RAI.

Costa Crociera, 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. "The position of the ship, which is worsening, is making more difficult the last part of the evacuation. "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."

In April 2010, three crew members died when the 53,876 gross ton Costa Europa hit berth at Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt. Cosyta Crociere is part of the Carnival Corp & plc group.