"When there's an accident, it is not just the ship that is identified or the company, the captain is identified and so it's normal that I should apologise as a representative of this system," captain Francesco Schettino told Italy's Canale 5 television. ...

The 114,500-tonne Costa Fascinosa, built by state-owned shipyard Fincantieri, has space for 3,500 passengers. An even bigger vessel, with 5,000 berths, should be ready in 2014 for a company that says bookings have recovered from the crisis. ...

The blonde tour representative whose beauty allegedly sparked the sinking of the Costa Concordia gave her first newspaper interview Sunday "to set the record straight" about her relationship with the doomed ship's captain. [caption id="attachment_6050" align="alignright" width="254" caption="Domnica Cemortan says she was flirting with the Captain just before the Costa Concordia grounded"][/caption] Domnica ...

The search of underwater areas of the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia has been suspended for safety reasons, the head of Italy's civil protection agency said Thursday. [caption id="attachment_5469" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Salvage work on the stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia."][/caption] Franco Gabrielli, who is directing the salvage operation, made the announcement after meeting with ...

The operation to recover the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia could take up to 10 months, Italy's top rescue official has said. The 114,500-tonne ship ran aground on rocks off the Italian island of Giglio on 13 January, with more than 4,200 people on board. The number of people known to have died in the disaster stands at 17, with another 15 still unaccounted for. Dutch salvage company Smit had begun to ...

The captain of the doomed Costa Concordia lost "a precious hour" in evacuating the giant cruise ship when it ran aground and capsized on January 13, possibly costing dozens of lives, a senior Italian maritime security official said on Thursday. [caption id="attachment_5186" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Civil protection vessel goes past the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the west coast of Italy, ...

Costa Concordia skipper Francesco Schettino was a self-confessed playboy who strutted round the ship with stunning women on his arm, his crew claimed last night. [caption id="attachment_5117" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Costa Concordia skipper Francesco Schettino"][/caption] They said he treated the £390million cruise liner as if it was his own personal super-yacht and hosted lavish dinners for ...

The company operating a cruise ship that ran aground off Italy is facing a class-action lawsuit in the US. [caption id="attachment_5038" align="alignright" width="300" caption="A Coast Guard worker searches the interior of Costa Concordia"][/caption] Italy's consumer association Codacons and two US law firms told the BBC they would file the suit against Costa Cruises on behalf of the passengers. They want a ...

Italian authorities hope to stabilize the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia as worsening weather on Friday could cause it to shift deeper into the sea, delaying plans to pump oil out of the vessel to prevent a possible environmental disaster. [caption id="attachment_5021" align="alignright" width="300" caption="A view of the Costa Concordia cruise ship from Giglio. Italy"][/caption] Six days after the 114 ...

Italian judges have put under house arrest the captain of a cruise ship that crashed into rocks on Friday. [caption id="attachment_4943" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Lloyds List issued a graphic comparing Friday's sailing with an earlier sailing by the vessel, suggesting that Friday's route had deviated far from its usual course."][/caption] Prosecutors say Francesco Schettino caused the ...