Italian Carabinieri police officers are silhouetted against the Costa Concordia cruise ship that ran aground off the west coast of Italy, at Giglio Island January 18, 2012.
The first victim from the Costa Concordia disaster was identified Wednesday — a 38-year-old violinist from Hungary who had been working as an entertainer on the stricken cruise ship.
Sandor Feher's body was found inside the wreck and identified by his mother, who had traveled to the Italian city of Grosseto, according to Hungary's foreign ministry.
The $450 million Costa Concordia cruise ship was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into a reef Friday off the tiny Italian island of Giglio after the captain made an unauthorized maneuver. The death toll stands at 11.
The number of people still unaccounted for dropped to 21 after a German passenger who was listed as missing was found alive in Germany, the Grosseto prefect's office reported.
Italian rescue workers suspended operations Wednesday after the cruise ship shifted slightly on the rocks near the Tuscan coast, creating deep concerns about the safety of divers and firefighters searching for the missing.
Jozsef Balog, a pianist working with Mr. Feher on the ship, told the Blikk newspaper that Mr. Feher was wearing a lifejacket when he decided to return to his cabin to pack his violin. Mr. Feher was last seen on deck en route to the area where he was supposed to board a lifeboat.
According to Mr. Balog, Mr. Feher helped put lifejackets on several crying children before returning to his cabin.
In a dramatic phone conversation released Tuesday, a coast guard official was heard ordering the captain, who had abandoned the ship with his first officers, back on board to oversee the evacuation. But Capt. Francesco Schettino resisted the order, saying it was too dark and the ship was tipping dangerously.
"You go on board! Is that clear? Do you hear me?" the Coast Guard officer shouted as Mr. Schettino sat safe in a life raft and frantic passengers struggled to escape after the ship rammed into a reef off the Tuscan coast. "It is an order. Don't make any more excuses. You have declared 'Abandon ship.' Now I am in charge."
Jailed since the accident, Mr. Schettino appeared Tuesday before a judge in Grosseto, where he was questioned for three hours. The judge ordered him held under house arrest and Italian media reported he returned to his home near Naples.
Federal prosecutors are planning to challenge that decision.
Mr. Schettino's lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, told a news conference in Grosetto that house arrest made sense given there was no evidence the captain intended to flee. He cited the fact that the captain co-ordinated the evacuation from the shore after leaving the ship.
"He never left the scene," Mr. Leporatti said. "There has never been a danger of flight."
Mr. Leporatti added the captain was upset by the accident, contrary to depictions in the Italian media that he did not appear to show regret.
"He is a deeply shaken man, not only for the loss of his ship, which for a captain is a grave thing, but above all for what happened and the loss of human life," the lawyer said.
Criminal charges including manslaughter and abandoning ship are expected to be filed by prosecutors in coming days. Schettino faces a possible 12 years in prison if convicted of the abandoning ship charge alone.
Mr. Schettino has insisted that he stayed aboard until the ship was evacuated. However, the recording of his conversation with Italian Coast Guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco makes clear he fled before all passengers were off — and then defied Mr. De Falco's repeated orders to go back.
"Listen Schettino," Mr. De Falco can be heard shouting in the audio tape. "There are people trapped on board. ... You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear?"
But Mr. Schettino resisted, saying the ship was listing and he was with his second-in-command in the lifeboat.
"I am here with the rescue boats. I am here. I am not going anywhere. I am here," he said. "I am here to co-ordinate the rescue."
"What are you co-ordinating there? Go on board! Coordinate the rescue from aboard the ship. Are you refusing?" came the response.
Mr. Schettino said he was not refusing, but he still did not return to the ship, saying at one point: "Do you realize it is dark and here we can't see anything?"
Mr. De Falco shouted back: "And so what? You want to go home, Schettino? It is dark and you want to go home? Get on that prow of the boat using the pilot ladder and tell me what can be done, how many people there are and what their needs are. Now!"
The exchange also indicates that Mr. Schettino did not know anyone had died, with Mr. De Falco telling him at one point: "There are already bodies now, Schettino."
"How many bodies?" Mr. Schettino asks in a nervous tone.
"You are the one who has to tell me how many there are!" Mr. De Falco barks in response.
Mr. Schettino was finally heard on the tape agreeing to reboard. But the coast guard has said he never went back, and police arrested him on land several hours later.