The body of a woman wearing a life jacket has been found on the Costa Concordia amid revelations the ship's captain admitted: "I messed up".
The unnamed woman's body was found on the fourth deck towards the rear of the wrecked cruise liner off the Tuscan coast.
The discovery brings the death toll to 12. Twenty people are still missing after the disaster and divers are due to resume their search of the ship on Sunday.
It has emerged that Capt Francesco Schettino made a frantic call 23 minutes after he had struck rocks on the night of January 13.
As terrified passengers began asking what had happened after the ship plunged briefly into darkness, Schettino called Costa Cruises operations manager Roberto Ferrarini in Genoa and told him: ''I messed up. We have touched the bottom (of the sea)."
According to court documents, Schettino continued: "I am telling you the truth. We sailed past Giglio and we took a hit.''
It also emerged that a transcript of a call between Schettino and the Livorno harbourmaster recorded the captain vowing he would be the only person to stay on the ship.
It is not known at what time the call took place. In it, the harbourmaster asks: "Is everyone going to abandon the ship or is someone going to stay there?"
Schettino, according to the transcript, responds: "I'm going to stay here... I'm the only one who will stay here."
The captain, who is accused of abandoning ship before all the passengers could be evacuated, has claimed he tripped and fell into a lifeboat.
In the judicial documents he described the moment of impact, saying: "All of a sudden I saw foam on the surface of the water off the bow of the ship. I knew immediately it was a reef that had not shown up on the radar."
The ship was travelling at 16 knots. Schettino, the documents said, ordered the wheel to be turned ''full to the right'' and called for the engines to be thrown in "full reverse", but it was too late.
Schettino told investigating judge Valeria Montesarchio how after he had crashed into the rocks - known as Le Scole - he had sent two senior officers down to the engine room.
They reported that it was flooded and water was pouring in.
Schettino is currently is under house arrest near Naples, facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship after he allegedly left the liner before hundreds of passengers.
In the documents, Schettino confirmed that just half an hour before last week's tragedy, he had dined in the ship's exclusive Club restaurant along with Moldovan blonde cruise ship rep Domnica Cermortan, 25.
At the time of the impact last Friday night, Schettino said that Domnica was ''in a side room'' close to the bridge.
Large pieces of wreckage from where the ship first hit the rocks have been found as Italian officials confirmed light fuel has begun leaking into the waters surrounding the ship.
Costa Crociere SpA , the company which operated the luxury liner, has now turned its back on Schettino.
He has been suspended and the company announced it is no longer paying his legal fees and has signed on as a civil party in the prosecution.
The move positions it as an injured party and would allow it to seek damages in the case of a guilty verdict.
The stricken liner has been lying on its side near the port of Giglio Island ever since it ran aground and there are fears it is slowly slipping off the reef.
