Search suspended after stricken Italian liner shifts

The Italian cruiser Costa Concordia has shifted again, forcing rescuers to suspend their search of the wreck, a navy official said Friday. "There is instability of the ship, so the rescuers cannot go in," Alessandro Busonero told AFP. Around 20 people remain missing in the disaster that claimed 11 lives. Leaked phone transcripts showed a ship's officer misleading coast guards about the scale of the disaster. The unidentified officer insisted that there had only been "a blackout" on board some 40 minutes after the giant Costa Concordia crashed into rocks off the picturesque Tuscan island of Giglio on Friday and lurched on to its side. Eleven bodies have so far been recovered, with officials saying two of the dead had been identified on Thursday as French nationals, while relatives of three of the 21 people still missing visited the scene of the tragedy. Local authorities on Thursday issued a weather alert warning that the sea would become "very agitated", raising fears that efforts to search the wreck and an operation to pump out its fuel tanks could be hampered. "When the waves are high, it's difficult to approach the ship with a dinghy, so helicopters are now installing ladders that will link the ship to the coastline," fire brigade spokesman Luca Cari said at the scene. The owner of the 17-deck vessel, Genoa-based Costa Crociere, sought to distance itself further from the ship's arrested captain Francesco Schettino, announcing that it would be a plaintiff in the case against him. In the first call made by the coastguard to the doomed Costa Concordia, which was leaked to news channel SkyTG24, an officer on the ship is heard denying there was a major crisis even 40 minutes after impact. "Excuse me, do you have a problem on board?," the coast guard says. The officer, identified only as a commanding officer, responds: "We had a blackout and we are checking the conditions on board." The coast guard insists: "What kind of problem are you having? Is it just the generator?" The officer: "We are verifying the conditions." The call was made by the coastguard after panicked passengers and crew began calling in to say the 114,500 tonne ship had suffered a massive impact. Coastguard: "The passengers said that you have ordered to put on life jackets. Is that correct?" Officer: "We are verifying the conditions." A few minutes later a evacuation from the listing 17-deck liner got under way, with survivors reporting scenes of chaos, confusion and panic. A Paraguayan musician who was performing on the ship said passengers and crew members were scurrying about with no direction. "There was no hierarchy or privilege," Jose Roberto Gomez said. "We all looked at each other and and all we were trying to do was save ourselves." In transcripts of his interrogation by prosecutors on Tuesday that were leaked to Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Schettino defended his actions but admitted he had made "a mistake" in sailing so close to the shore. Schettino, 52, is under house arrest at his home near Naples. He has been accused of multiple manslaughter and of abandoning ship, but has not yet been formally charged -- a process that could take months. "I was sailing on sight (and not using the ship's instruments) because I know the area well and I've done the same manoeuvre three or four times. But this time I turned too late," he was quoted as saying. Schettino added, however, that after the impact he performed a complex manoeuvre that saved lives by steering the ship towards the island's port. He also said he "fell over inside a lifeboat" when the boat pitched over. He said he could not return on board after leaving the ship "because the space was obstructed" by boats that had come to help the rescue. In a damning transcript of a recording of a conversation between Schettino and a port official after disaster struck, the captain is heard ignoring repeated orders to return to the ship and help in the evacuation. But a mystery woman reported by Corriere della Sera to be of interest to investigators over Schettino's role, defended his actions and said he had saved lives. Domnica Cemortan -- a blonde 25-year-old ballerina with dual Moldovan and Romanian citizenship -- said she was dining with friends at the time of the disaster and denied Schettino was also having drinks on deck. "The charges you hear about the captain today are absurd," Cemortan told AFP in Chisinau calling the Schettino a "hero". Cemortan said she worked for the cruise company on other ships and had boarded the Costa Concordia to celebrate her 25th birthday with friends. "I jumped off the boat at 11:50 pm," she said. "The captain was still working on deck." Eight of the confirmed victims have been identified: four French tourists, one Italian, one Spaniard as well as two crew members -- a Peruvian and a Hungarian, who was a violinist on board. Kevin Rebello from Mumbai, whose brother Russel worked as a waiter on the ship and is one of the missing, also visited the scene. "My brother stayed to help others... It should have been the captain who left the ship last," he told AFP. "The fact (that the captain) left early is something I just cannot get over. I'm very angry." Two of the French victims, Pierre Gregoire and his sister Jeanne Gannard, both retirees, were offered the cruise by their family who are now left mourning in eastern France. "This voyage was supposed to be a joy, it became a tragedy," said a friend, adding that Gannard "nearly never went on vacation and was probably boarding a boat for the first time."