Victims of a luxury cruise ship that ran aground and overturned, killing at least three people were killed and 69 people still missing, described Saturday chaotic evacuation, such as plates and glasses fell and was dragged along the aisle tried to reverse to achieve a safe place.
Based on information provided by local authorities, U. S. Embassy in Rome estimated 130 Americans may have been the ship.
Embassy said no serious injuries reported to Americans, but not all Americans believe they have been on board at the time of the accident has been calculated.
Three bodies were recovered from the sea after Costa Concordia ran aground off the small island of Giglio, off the coast of Tuscany, on Friday night, make a cut 160 feet in the helmet and send the torrent of water.
ANSA news agency quoted the office of prefect of the province of Grosseto, said the authorities had brought 4165 of 4234 people who had risen liner.
Saturday morning, the ship was lying almost flat on offshore Gigio, the right side of his submerged in water and a large wound in the stomach with a clearly emerging.
Passengers described the scene reminded "Titanic", complained that the crew did not give instructions on how to evacuate and emergency once it became obvious, the delay in lowering the lifeboat until the ship was too much of a list of those to be released.
Helicopters plucked to safety from a few people trapped in the boat, some of the victims rescued by ships in the area, and witnesses said some people jumped from the ship at sea was dark and cold. Coast Guard rescue boats continue search for passengers.
Authorities have not told all the survivors at the time they reached the shore 12 hours later.
Evacuation drill planned only for a Saturday afternoon, although some passengers already on board for a few days.
"It was well organized, our evacuation drill is scheduled for 5 pm," said Melissa Goduti, 28, of Wallingford, Connecticut, which has set the cruise in the Mediterranean before the hour. "We joked" What if something happened today? "'
"Have you seen Titanic? That's what it is," said Valerie Ananias, 31, a school teacher in Los Angeles who was traveling with his sister and parents in the first of two Mediterranean cruises. They all wore dark red bruises on their knees from crawling their desperate need to survive along the corridor and stairs almost vertical, trying to reach the lifeboats.
"We climbed down a hallway in the dark, only with a lifejacket light from a strobe light flashes," said his mother, Georgia Ananias, 61, said. "We could hear the plates and dishes crashed, people hit the wall."
He was happy to tell when the couple gave Argentina their daughter three years old, unable to maintain balance as the ship rolled to one side and the family stood on the wall. "He said," take my baby, "said Mrs. Ananias, covering her mouth with his hand because he was full of tears." He grabbed the baby. But then I'm pressed. I do not want the baby from falling down the stairs. He gave me a baby. I can not hug him.
"I think it was late and thought I should be with your baby," he said.
"I want to know where they are," whispered her daughter Valerie.
The family says they were among the last of the ships, was forced to swerve off the rope through the open side of the ship to the rescue boat waiting below.
Survivor Christine Hammer, Bonn, Germany, shivering near the port of Porto Santo Stefano on the mainland, after getting off the ferry to Giglio. She wears an elegant dinner - a gray cashmere sweater, silk scarves - along with a great pair of hiking boots, which provide a kind of island after losing his shoe in the struggle to escape. Left behind in his room passport, credit cards and phone.
Hammer, 65, told the AP he was eating his first meal, an appetizer of squid, fried mushrooms and salad, the first night on the first cruise ship, a gift for her and her husband, Gert, his local church, where the volunteers .
Suddenly, "I heard a crash. Cups and plates fell and left the room and told us it's not dangerous," he said.
Some of the passengers agreed, saying the crew 45 minutes to both the passenger was not simply a "technical problem" that has caused the lights went out. Cruises experience, however, knew better and went to get their life jackets from their cabin and inform them "muster," emergency station is assigned to each passenger, they said.
Once there, however, delay the crew members off the ship's lifeboat despite severe list, they said.
"We should be shouting at the driver to free the ship from the side," said Mike van Dijk, 54 years, Pretoria, South Africa. "We are standing in the corridor and did not allow us to get the ship was the struggle, the struggle is absolutely .."
Passenger Alan and Laurie Willits Wingham, Ontario, celebrated the anniversary of their 30th wedding anniversary, said they witnessed a magic show in the ship's main theater when she felt the initial shock, as if turning maneuver is severe, followed several seconds later by a "vibration" is rolled trash can. The back of the theater ship ready made curtains seem as if they were standing next to him.
"Then the magician disappeared," said Laurie Willits, said the magician left the stage and the crowd panicked, fled to their cabins.
Once at the station lifeboat, crew directed passengers to climb the stairs to the fourth floor terrace, Alan Willits she refused.
"I said 'no this is not true." And I came out and said "When you get this ship is stable, I'll go to the fifth floor," he said. Finally, the lifeboats lowered.
But it did not increase to board passengers after the boat or on land.
"Nothing we are told, or in a lifeboat or on earth," said Ophelie Gondelles, 28, a French army officer in Marseilles. He said there was no evacuation drills since he moved up in Marseille, France on January 8.
As dawn approached, a thorough search in the 950 meters long ship is being done to see if someone could be trapped inside, said Paolillo.
"There are some 2000 booths, and the ship is not good," Paolillo said, referring to the most dramatic of Concord inclination of 45 degrees. "I leave to your imagination to understand how they (helper) work as they move through it."
Some still Concordia crew to help rescue the Coast Guard said.
Paolillo said he was not immediately clear if those killed were passengers or crew, or nationality of the victims immediately know. It is unclear how they died.
About 30 people were injured, most of them suffered a concussion, but at least two people were reportedly in serious condition. Some passenger ferries leave litter, but apparently more from fatigue and shock in serious injury.
Some passengers looked panicked, had jumped ship at sea, witnesses said. Authorities were trying to get a full passenger and crew lists Costa, so I can make a sound to determine who may be lost.
The refugees took refuge in schools, hotels, and a small church on the island of Giglio, a popular vacation island about 18 miles from the coast of central Italy to the west. Refugees at the port of Porto Santo Stefano on the mainland nearby.
Passengers sat stunned in a secondary school open to them, wrapped in a blanket of wool or aluminum, some with their life jackets and bare legs covered with aluminum foil. Civil protection teams, serve them hot tea and bread, but confusion reigned when passengers struggled to find the right bus to begin their journey home.
Tanja Berto, Ebenfurth, Austria, was moved from one line to another with her mother and 2-year-old Bruno, trying to find my way back to Savona, where his journey began a week ago.
"It's her birthday today," his son said, rolling his eyes when he held Bruno and tend to his mother, who has grown weak and lying on the ground. "Happy birthday, Bruno."
Survived much larger than 1,500 population Felix, and Mayor Sergio Ortelli island called the island - "anyone with a roof" - to open their homes to house refugees.
Paolillo said the exact condition of the accident is not yet clear, but the first alarm exploded around 10:30 pm, three hours after Concordia has started the journey from the port of Civitavecchia, a trip to the first port of call, Savona, in northwest Italy.
Coast Guard officials, the port captain's office in the Tuscan port of Livorno, said the ship "hit the barriers" - it's not clear whether he could hit a rocky reef in the waters Giglio - "rip cut 160 feet wide" on the side of the boat, and started leaking.
Captain of the patrol car, Paolillo said, and then try to steer his ship into shallow water near the small port of Felix, to make the lifeboat evacuation easier. However, after the ship began to list badly, lifeboat evacuation is not feasible, said Paolillo.
Five helicopters, Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force, alternately transporting the victim was still on board and transported safely. A member of the Coast Guard was brought on board to help people aboard a small basket so they can be lifted to the helicopter, said Capt. Cosimo Nicastro, Coast Guard officers.
Costa Cruises, Costa Concordia said he sailed on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea from Civitavecchia with calls scheduled at Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.
He said about 1,000 passengers Italy, Germany, and more than 500, about 160 French and about 1,000 crew members.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Concordia crashed earlier in the waters of Italy, ANSA reported. In 2008, when strong winds battered Palermo, yacht harbor dock struck Sicily and damaged, but no one was injured, ANSA said.
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