Costa Concordia: Captain Arrested, 41 Missing After Italy Cruise Ship Disaster [PHOTOS & VIDEO]
Update: Costa Concordia: Italy Cruise Ship Death Toll Rises to 5, Captain Arrested
The captain of the Costa Concordia, the luxury Italian cruise ship that ran aground off Tuscany on Friday, killing at least three people, was arrested on Saturday, according to reports.
About 100 people were rescued from the sea and 41 passengers are still missing, according to the Agence France-Presse. The Costa Concordia had more than 4,000 people on board when it hit a reef, ripping a 70- to 100-meter (230- to 330-foot) hole in its hull, AFP reported.
The captain, Francesco Schettino, and first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, have been arrested and could face multiple homicide charges and having abandoned the ship before the passengers were rescued, according to Italian media.
Reuters reported that Schettino was arrested on suspicion of multiple manslaughter charges, as well as being charged with causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship. He was taken to a jail in the provincial capital Grosseto to await questioning by a magistrate, according to reports.
AFP reported that Grosseto prosecutor Francesco Verusio told reporters that the captain approached Giglio Island in a very awkward way, hit a rock that stuck into its left side, making [the boat] list and take on a huge amount of water in the space of two or three minutes.
Some 42 are reported injured, two of them seriously.
Italian officials are still trying to figure out why the 114,500-ton Costa Concordia didn't issue a mayday call during the accident. The Italian cruise ship was carrying 4,299 people of whom more than 3,000 were passengers. There were 989 Italians, 569 Germans, 462 French nationals and 177 Spaniards on board, according to AFP.
MSNBC reported that a U.S. State Department official estimated that there were 126 Americans among the people who were on the Costa Concordia. No Americans were injured.
You can see photos of the accident to the top left of this article.
Watch amateur footage of the ship sinking below:
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