Search continues for survivors of cruise ship disaster

Rescue workers continued searching the capsized cruise ship off the Italian island of Giglio Sunday night in the hope of finding more survivors. Fifteen passengers and crew members remained unaccounted for Monday morning, more than 48 hours after the huge vessel capsized, killing at least five and injuring more than 60 people.

The captain of the “Concordia”, Francesco Schettino, was arrested on Saturday, accused of manslaughter and of abandoning his ship before all 4,200 people aboard had been evacuated. The company operating the cruise ship has said the captain may have “committed serious errors of judgement” by sailing too close to land and not following the company’s emergency procedures. He denies wrongdoing, saying that the rock responsible for tearing a huge hole in the hull was not marked on his nautical charts or detectable on navigation systems.

Meanwhile, the “Concordia” remains lying on its side about 300 meters off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Environmental groups have expressed fears of an oil spill from the vessel’s submerged fuel tanks, although salvage experts say these do not appear to have been damaged.

Three people, a South Korean couple and a member of the ship’s crew, were rescued yesterday and police divers also recovered the bodies of two elderly men who were trapped in a flooded section of the ship when it capsized.

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