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Captain 'Ignored Orders To Return To Ship'

Captain: I Was Last To Leave Sinking Ship

The captain of a cruise liner that capsized after crashing off the Italian coast ignored an order to return on board, according to 'black box' recordings.

Taped telephone conversations released by authorities suggest Francesco Schettino was evasive when ordered by a port official to supervise the rescue.

A total of 29 people remain missing and six have been confirmed dead after the Costa Concordia cruise liner collided into a reef off the Tuscan coast near the island of Giglio.

The number of those still being sought - 25 passengers and four crew members - rose after authorities revealed some of those previously counted as safe had still not contacted family members.

And while coast guard official Marco Brusco said he held a "glimmer of hope" that more survivors may still be found, Giglio Mayor Sergio Ortelli said earlier that hopes of finding any of them alive were minimal.

Schettino is due to face manslaughter charges in court on Tuesday charged with manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck - all of which he denies.

A transcript of the conversation between the captain and a coastguard official was recorded on one of the ship's 'black boxes'.

"Now you go to the bow, you climb up the emergency ladder and coordinate the evacuation," the official reportedly tells him.

"You must tell us how many people, children, women and passengers are there and the exact number of each category.

"What are you doing? Are you abandoning the rescue? Captain, this is an order, I am the one in charge now. You have declared abandoning ship, There are already bodies."

"How many?" Schettino says, to which the official responds: "That is for you to tell me, what are you doing? Do you want to go home?"

Schettino said in an earlier telephone call that "(We) cannot get on board because the rear of the ship is keeling over."

ANSA news agency also said there was a kind of "mutiny" among the crew which decided on an evacuation before being given formal orders by the captain.

Schettino has been accused by the vessel's owner, Costa Cruises, of sailing close to land to "make a salute".

Costa Cruises chairman Pier Luigi Foschi apologised for the tragedy, which has left dozens of the 4,200 people on board injured and the 114,000-tonne ship lying on its side off Tuscany.

:: Click here for our graphic sequence to find out how the cruise liner ended up on its side

And Clarence Mitchell, who is representing Costa Cruises, said: "Mr Foschi confirmed the captain had been approaching the island of Giglio to 'make a salute'.

"The company says this (incident) was caused by an attempt by the captain to show the ship to the port.

"But there's a criminal investigation going on and we're not going to say anything that's going to compromise that or the captain's case."

Prosecutor Francesco Verusio said the captain's alleged conduct was "inexcusable."

"We are struck by the unscrupulousness of the reckless manoeuvre that the commander of the Costa Concordia made near the island of Giglio."

It comes after some of the 35 Britons on board described the panic that ensued after the ship collided with rocks.