ITALIAN rescue workers were searching for nearly 40 people still missing early yesterday, more than a day after a cruise ship with more than 4,000 on board capsized off Italy’s west coast, killing at least three people and injuring 70.

    Just after dawn yesterday, rescue workers made voice contact with another person trapped in the Costa Concordia.

    After midnight, rescue workers had found two people, both South Koreans, still alive in a cabin after making voice contact with them from several decks above and brought them ashore.

    The captain of the luxury 114,500-ton ship was held in jail accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, Italian police said.

    Passengers, some saying it felt like a rerun of the Titanic disaster, told of people leaping into the sea and fighting over life jackets in panic when the ship hit a rock and ran aground near the island of Giglio late Friday.

    Two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member were dead and 38 people were now unaccounted for.

    The vast hulk of the 290-meter-long cruise ship, resting half-submerged on its side, loomed over the little port of Giglio, a picturesque island in a maritime nature reserve off the Tuscan coast. A large gash was visible on its side.

    Rescue workers including specialist diving teams were working their way through more than 2,000 cabins on the vast ship, a floating resort that boasted a huge spa, seven restaurants as well as bars, cinemas and discotheques.

    As the search continued, there was a growing demand for answers over why the vessel had come so close to the shore and bitter complaints about how long it had taken to evacuate the terrified passengers after the ship ran aground late Friday.

    After the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, was arrested Saturday night for questioning, the investigation could be extended, state prosecutor Francesco Verusio said.

    “We are investigating the possible responsibility of other people who could be responsible for such a dangerous maneuver,” he said. “The command systems did not function as they should have.”

    (SD-Agencies)