Capsized cruise ship may be tied to ledge

GIGLIO, Italy, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship may be lashed to a rock ledge to prevent the ill-fated vessel from sinking, officials in Italy said.

At least 11 people had died and 21 passengers remained missing Friday, a week after the ship, carrying 4,200 people, went aground near the small island of Giglio in theTyrrhenian Sea.

Rescuers were ordered off the ship after it slid close to a steep underwater ledge along the Tuscan coast, ANSA reported.

"We may have to secure her to the rock ledge," an officer in charge of the rescue operation said. "Otherwise she's going to slip to the bottom."

An impending storm and high waves could also jeopardize efforts to find the missing passengers.

The ship is carrying 500,000 gallons, or 2,300 tons, of semi-solid fuel in 17 separate tanks.

Amateur video posted online Thursday by Italy's Rainnews 24 shows a female crew member on the Costa Concordia asking passengers to go back to their cabins after the ship had started taking on water.

"We kindly ask you to return to your cabins, or go for a walk in the hall, if you like," the crew member, who said she was relaying a message from the commander, told passengers. "Everything is under control."

A ship's cook alleges Capt. Francesco Schettino ordered dinner for himself and a Moldovan woman after the liner hit the reef.

Rogelio Barista said Schettino ordered dinner around 10:30 p.m, GMA Network in the Philippines reported.

"We wondered what was going on," he said. "At that time, we really felt something was wrong. ... The stuff in the kitchen was falling off shelves and we realized how grave the situation was," he told GMA.

Italian media has devoted considerable attention to the female Moldovan crew member, Domnica Cemortan, a 25-year-old passenger rep who ship owner Costa Cruises confirmed late Thursday was an authorized passenger. Italian media reports speculated she may have been on the bridge because Schettino was trying to impress her.

Prosecutor Francesco Verusio asked police to track her down for her account of the events leading up to liner's striking the underwater reef, the British newspaper The Daily Mail reported.

Cemortan told Romanian daily newspaper Adevarul she was on the bridge with Schettino.

In a separate interview with a Moldovan TV, she praised Schettino's "extraordinary" handling of the disaster.

Costa Cruises and Italian authorities have been highly critical of Schettino, who is under house arrest and faces possible charges of manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning ship.

He is accused of deviating from his computer-programmed route to make a sail-by foghorn "salute" to a soon-to-retire crewman's family members, who were waiting in the Giglio port.