ROME (AP) — The Italian news agency ANSA says a luxury cruise ship with 4,200 people aboard has run aground off the Tuscan coast and that at least 6 people have died.
The report early Saturday said the Costa Concordia ran aground a few hundred meters (yards) off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, and that the passengers were being evacuated.
A statement from Costa Cruises, the company that runs the ship, confirmed that the evacuation of the 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew had begun, “but the position of the ship which is worsening is making more difficult the last part of the evacuation.”
Costa Cruises’ statement did not mention any casualties, and said it had not yet determined the cause of the problem.