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.

Divers searching the capsized Costa Concordia last night pulled out the body of a woman in a life vest and retrieved a safe and documents belonging to the ship's captain.

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.

TRAVEL agents around the country are taking on extra staff to deal with the large volume of holiday queries.

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

A luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, gashing open the hull and forcing some 4,200 people aboard to evacuate aboard lifeboats to a nearby island early today.

TRAILFINDERS have again linked with Etihad Airways to feature late deals to Malaysia, but interested clients need to be fast — bookings have to be made by tomorrow.

THIS week there was a welcome back into the mainstream of the Irish travel trade for former Budget Holidays executive Clem Walshe, appointed to head up LowCostHolidays.ie.

Dozens of crew members and two passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship who were suspected of having swine flu have tested negative for the virus, the cruise operator said today.

Movie stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are treating themselves to an Italian luxury yacht fitted with a swimming pool, a heliport and a submarine.

Italy’s Alitalia faced cancellations or delays for as many as 250 flights today as wildcat protests by the airline’s workers continued ahead of a key meeting between unions and government representatives.

A STUDY conducted on the case of a statue of the Madonna in Italy reported to have shed tears of blood a decade ago concluded that the event has no human explanation.