Several dead as cruise ship grounds in Italy It is thought at least three people have died and four more are missing after a cruise ship ran aground on the Italian coast. The Costa Concordia was carrying at least 4,000 passengers and crew, including several Britons, when it began to list heavily on Friday night. The liner had set off from Civitavecchia in Italy and was heading to Savona when it ran aground. The ship hit the bottom just a few hundred metres off the tiny Tuscan holiday island of Giglio and began to take on water. An immediate evacuation and rescue effort was launched, but Italian coastguards have already recovered several bodies. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are sending a team of consular staff from our embassy in Rome to the area later this morning. We have not yet been contacted by any British families about the incident.