Ship Sank 'Like Titanic'

KOMPAS.com - THE 4000 passengers aboard the cruise ship Costa Concordia were settling down to dinner when the cruise ship struck a reef and began to sink.

As many as eight people are thought to have died in the incident but other reports put the number of dead at three. Ten Australians who were aboard the vessel were confirmed as being safe. A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said last night the Australians ''were all safe and in good health''.

''We are currently inquiring whether any more Australians were on board,'' she said.

The Costa Concordia was cruising off the Tuscan coast of Italy on Friday night local time. One of the passengers, Peter Honvehlmann, 38, from Germany, described to the Deutsche Presse Agentur the dramatic moment when he realised something was wrong with the ship.

''We felt a jolt and then the lights went off,'' he said of the incident that occurred at 10pm Italian time (8am Sydney time). ''Then we were told there was an electrical fault. Within very short time the ship started listing so much everything started sliding off the tables and bars. It was like in the movie Titanic, we could not believe what was happening.''

The Italian coast guard was forced to evacuate more than 4000 people from 290-metre ship.The ship, operated by Costa Crociera and worth about €450 million was on a tour of the Mediterranean when it hit the reef near the Isola del Giglio late on Friday.

Several people were still missing after jumping overboard in panic as the ship began to tilt, the newspaper Il Messaggero said. One victim was a man in his 70s who died of a heart attack after he jumped into the icy water, reports said. More than 30 people were hurt.

As the crew tried to calm passengers, Mr Honvehlmann said the ship drifted closer and closer towards rock. A short time later, a general emergency was declared and orders were given to abandon ship.

But with the ship listing strongly, it was almost impossible to launch the rescue boats. The company that operates the Costa Concordia later confirmed the reports.

''The gradual listing of the ship made the evacuation extremely difficult,'' the company said. ''The position of the ship, which is worsening, is making more difficult the last part of the evacuation.''

Mr Honvehlmann said: ''This was my first cruise and definitely my last.''

Most of the 3200 passengers and 1000 crew were quickly evacuated but coast guards struggled to rescue about 200 people stuck aboard. When told the ship had stopped for electrical reasons, passengers were asked to put on lifejackets, passenger Luciano Castro told the newsagency ANSA.

Another 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,'' she said. ''We definitely didn't have time to get anything else. They gave us blankets but there weren't enough.''

Cabin steward Deodato Ordona said elderly passengers were crying and he and some others jumped into the sea and swam roughly 400 metres to reach land.

Rescued passengers were ferried to emergency accommodation in hotels, schools and a church on Giglio, a resort island 25 kilometres off Italy's western coast. Most have now been moved to the mainland, Elizabeth Nanni from Giglio's tourist information service told the BBC.