The captain of the doomed Costa Concordia hit a reef off the coast of a Tuscan island after being disappointed at not getting close enough to it on an earlier attempt, his trial has been told.

Authorities have approved a make-or-break attempt to pull upright the crippled Costa Concordia cruise liner from the waters off Tuscany tomorrow.

When salvage teams begin hauling the wrecked Costa Concordia liner upright on the Italian island of Giglio next week, the financial stakes for insurers will be almost as enormous as the awe-inspiring feat of engineering.

An Italian court has accepted plea bargains for five Costa Crociere employees over the shipwreck that killed 32 crew and passengers, convicting all of multiple manslaughter and negligence.

Survivors and victims' families have returned to the site where 32 people died when the Costa Concordia ran aground a year ago today.

The captain of the stricken Costa Concordia cruise liner will attend pre-trial hearings this week where experts will present analysis of the events that led to the vessel hitting a rock off the Italian coast in January and the deaths of 30 people.

The first hearing of the criminal investigation into the Costa Concordia’s shipwreck was held in a theatre today instead of a courthouse because of high demand, with angry survivors seeking compensation, justice and the truth.

It could take experts three months to analyse the voice recorder from the Costa Concordia, the prosecutor leading the Italian investigation into the shipwreck said.

The Costa Allegra’s captain said passengers had put on life vests and were ready to abandon ship as his crew fought a fire in the engine room that left the vessel adrift and powerless.

Hot and tired passengers disembarking from a disabled cruise ship in the Seychelles said they had prepared to abandon ship when fire broke out in the engine room three days ago.

Stricken cruise ship the Costa Allegra reached the Seychelles’ main port today, after three days at sea without power.

Salvage workers yesterday began pumping fuel from the shipwrecked cruise liner Costa Concordia, a day ahead of schedule, officials said.

Six passengers have filed a lawsuit in America against the owners of the Costa Concordia, which capsized off the coast of Italy earlier this month.

A barge carrying a crane and other equipment hitched itself to the toppled Costa Concordia, signalling the start of preliminary operations to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the grounded cruise ship before it leaks into the pristine Tuscan sea.

The captain of the Costa Concordia was not under the effects of drugs when the liner hit a rock that tore a hole in the hull and caused it to capsize near the port of Italy’s Giglio island, his lawyer said.

The first victim from the Costa Concordia disaster was identified today - a 38-year-old violinist from Hungary who had been working as an entertainer on the stricken cruise ship.

The Italian operator of the Costa Concordia has today accused the ship's jailed captain, Francesco Schettino, of causing ship to run aground, saying he made an "unapproved, unauthorised manoeuvre'' to divert the vessel from its programmed course.

Emergency Services in Italy are denying reports that a seventh body has been found amid the wreckage of the Costa Condordia this morning.

THE captain of the wrecked cruise ship that hit rocks off Italy sailed close to land to “show the ship to the port”, the liner’s owners said yesterday.

The Concordia’s grounding, two weeks into the Titanic centenary year, should serve as a wake-up call to the shipping industry and those who regulate it, the maritime professionals’ union Nautilus International said today.