Rescuers try to access flooded lower cabins as number of passengers missing on stricken vessel stands at 29
Navy explosives experts have blown a series of holes in the hull of the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia to allow divers searching for passengers better access to flooded lower cabins.
As officials raised the tally of missing passengers from 16 to 29, five holes were blasted in the landward side along the 290m (950ft) length of the ship, giving divers searching deep inside the submerged part of the liner a quick escape route if the vessel slips into deeper waters.
It was also claimed on Tuesday that captain Francesco Schettino was ordered back to the ship by coastguards after leaving when the evacuation was barely under way, according to reports in the Italian press.
As salvage experts said they could start moves to remove fuel from the liner as early as Wednesday, Italy's environment minister gave its owners 48 hours to come up with a plan to drain 2,400 tonnes of heavy fuel oil to avoid an ecological disaster.
A day after Corrado Clini said he would declare a state of emergency on the Tuscan island of Giglio, where the ship has been lodged on rocks near deeper water since Friday, the minister said an urgent plan to stop fuel spilling into the surrounding protected marine park was needed.
"If the ship should sink we will need a completely different operation because it could break up," said Clini. "If that happens it will be difficult to make predictions – it is the nightmare we have had for three days," he said.
Draining fuel could destabilise the ship, meaning that no one can be on board during the operation, he added.
"It is a race against time because the emptying of fuel cannot be done until the rescue operations are over," he said.
Working fast as forecasts predict bad weather for later in the week, navy divers detonated five charges against the hull of the ship on Tuesday – two under the waterline and three above – to provide a fast means to get in and out of the underwater sections of the ship to search for passengers. Up to 29 remain missing.
"We will be getting in through the holes to check out lower decks today," said senior coastguard diver Rodolfo Raiteri.
Meanwhile, floating booms were positioned around the ship on Tuesday to contain any fuel spill, and a coastguard helicopter hovered above to spot any oil on the sea's surface. A suspicious liquid spotted earlier proved not be leaking fuel.
Representatives of the Netherlands'-based salvage company SMIT said it could take between two weeks and a month to remove the heavy fuel oil, 200 tonnes of lighter oil and smaller quantities of lubricating oil from the vessel.
They believed that work could start even as rescue workers, 300 of who are packed into the port of Giglio, continued searching the wreck, although they would need the approval of Italian authorities and the ship's owners and insurers.
Although further checks on the vessel would be necessary, there were no signs fuel tanks had been breached. A floating platform would store fuel pumped from the liner before they were transferred to oil tankers.
SMIT said it had not been involved in discussions about the salvage of the liner itself but hinted moving the vessel could take several months.
Grounded on its side on granite rock yards from the shore, the Costa Concordia stands in 37m of water, but 30m further out to sea the seabed falls away to 70m.
After days of doubt over the number of missing passengers, Italian officials managing the crisis have officially stated that 29 passengers have yet to be accounted for, including 14 Germans, six Italians, four French, two Americans, a Hungarian, Indian and Peruvian.
Three bodies have so far been found on board and three passengers were found drowned at sea. Three survivors were taken off the ship at the weekend after t it grounded after smashing into rocks on Friday night.
Concerns have also been raised about security around the vessel amid fears that cash and valuables left on board by the thousands of passengers may attract looters.