Experts have blamed the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship for the disaster in which 32 people died.

The “monumental” operation to re-float and remove the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship will be the biggest and costliest ever of its kind.

The “monumental” operation to re-float and remove the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship will be the biggest and costliest ever of its kind, the company said today.

A cruise ship with about 1,000 people on board was drifting in waters south of the Philippines today after a fire disabled its engines, the Philippine coast guard said. Five crew members were injured.

Search crews in Italy have found five more bodies in the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which struck a reef off an island in January.

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.

A disabled cruise ship will spend an extra 10 to 12 hours at sea without electricity, air conditioning or toilet facilities because of a row over tugs, a Seychelles minister says.

Helicopters ferried food, phones and flashlights to more than 1,000 passengers and crew stuck aboard a disabled cruise ship being towed to the Seychelles Islands through waters prowled by pirates.

A French vessel has reached an Italian cruise ship adrift in the Indian Ocean and is towing it to an island, the Seychelles coastguard said today.

A cruise ship from the same fleet as the Costa Concordia, on which 32 people died after it ran aground off the coast of Italy last month, is adrift in the Indian Ocean with more than 1,000 people on board following a fire.

Fire has broken out on an Italian cruise ship off the Seychelles islands and the vessel is adrift, but all passengers are safe, Coast Guards said today.

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

An Italian priest who claimed he was going away for a week on a spiritual retreat will have to explain to his parishioners how he ended up on the doomed Costa Concordia cruise ship.

Unregistered passengers might have been aboard the stricken cruise liner that capsized off a Tuscan island, raising the possibility that the number of missing might be higher than previously announced.

Rescuers have resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies.

Divers have found a woman's body in a submerged section of the grounded Costa Concordia, raising the death toll in the cruise liner tragedy to at least 12.

The Costa Concordia disaster has highlighted safety issues abroad increasingly huge cruise liners.

Passengers rescued from the cruise liner that crashed into rocks off Italy spoke today of their shock as the ship’s captain was placed under house arrest.

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

The number of people missing from a shipwreck off Italy rose to 29 tonight, as the captain was accused of sailing close to land to “make a salute”.

Italy has declared a state of emergency after liquid was seen leaking from a shipwrecked cruise liner in the Mediterranean.

OWNERS of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship last night said “preliminary indications” suggested the captain may have been guilty of “significant human error”.

Owners of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship tonight said “preliminary indications” suggested the captain may have been guilty of “significant human error”.