ROME - Divers resumed the search on Thursday for 21 people still missing after a cruise ship capsized off the Tuscan coast, but rough seas forecast for later in the day added an element of uncertainty to the operation and plans to begin pumping fuel from the stranded vessel.

The $450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into a reef and capsized on Friday after the captain made an unauthorized diversion from his program route and strayed into the perilous waters.

Eleven people have been confirmed dead, their bodies removed from the ship and frigid waters.

Divers were focusing on an evacuation route on the fourth level, now about 18 meters below the surface, where five bodies were found earlier this week, Navy spokesman Alessandro Busonero told Sky TG 24.

Officials restarted the search after determining the ship had stabilized after shifting on the rocks 24 hours earlier.

The ship's sudden movement also postponed the start of the weeks-long operation to extract the half-million gallons of fuel on board the vessel, as Italy's environment minister warned Parliament of the ecological implications if the ship sinks.

"Today is an important day, the weather forecasts are negative, rough sea, we'll have to see how the ship reacts to that," firefighter spokesman Luca Cari said on Thursday.

Looming fears

The rescue operation had to be halted on Wednesday after the half-submerged ship shifted while rescuers were still inside, sparking fears that it could slip off its rocky resting place and plunge into the open sea.

But a coast guard spokesman tests had been carried out to ensure that it was safe to resume the search and they would detonate explosives to make it easier to get into the vessel.

"The tests during the night were positive, and we have divers going down now," coast guard spokesman Filippo Marini told reporters.

"We will then use the micro-explosives to open more holes. They will enter inside the ship and search for more people," he said.

Rescuers have so far recovered 11 bodies from the disaster and 21 more people are missing out of the more than 4,200 who had been on board.

Six of the victims have been formally identified: two French tourists, one Italian, one Spaniard as well as two members of the crew - one Peruvian and one Hungarian, who was a violinist on board.

"My brother stayed to help others ... It should have been the captain who left the ship last," said Kevin Rebello from Mumbai, whose brother Russel worked as a waiter on the ship and is one of the missing.

"The fact (that the captain) left early is something I just cannot get over. I'm very angry," said Rebello, who traveled to the tiny island to see the rescue operations on the 17-deck ship for himself.

"If it had happened in another country, he would not be home now sipping coffee with his mum, he would be in prison. It's not Disneyland, you're playing with people's lives," he said.

AP-AFP

(China Daily 01/20/2012 page12)