A luxury cruise ship has run aground off the coast of Tuscany, gashing open the hull and forcing some 4,200 people aboard to evacuate on lifeboats to a nearby island early on Saturday. At least three were dead, the Italian coast guard said.
There were at least three more feared dead, and helicopters were working to pluck to safety some 50 people still trapped aboard the badly listing Costa Concordia, said Coast Guard Commander Francesco Paolillo.
Paolillo said it wasn't known if the dead were passengers or crew, nor were the nationalities of the victims immediately known. It is understood there were several British passengers on board.
The Italian news agency ANSA reported that some people had jumped overboard in the scramble to evacuate the ship, which had just begun a Mediterranean cruise.Six people were reportedly killed and thousands evacuated from a luxury cruise ship on Friday after it ran aground and began to sink off the coast of Italy. Holidaymakers from France, Italy, Germany and Britain were forced to flee the 1,500-cabin Costa Concordia in lifeboats when it hit a reef less than two hours after leaving port.
Some leapt overboard and swam to shore as the brightly-lit ship started to sink into the black waters near the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast.
Italian media reported that six people died aboard the luxury liner and others may have been injured as the coastguard struggled to rescue the few remaining passengers.
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