More than 4,000 people were evacuated when the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Tuscany on Friday night, leaving two French passengers and a Peruvian crew member confirmed dead. Although iol reported there were no South Africans on board, news24 have confirmed there was a couple who jumped four-storeys to safety.

According to the BBC:

Three survivors have been found on the stricken cruise ship Costa Concordia, more than 24 hours after it ran aground off the Italian coast.

An Italian crew member with a serious leg injury has now been airlifted to the mainland, hours after a South Korean couple were rescued.

Three people are confirmed dead.

The captain has been arrested on suspicion of causing deaths. He denies claims by prosecutors that he left the ship before evacuation was complete.

First officer Ciro Ambrosio has also been detained.

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Things have progressed considerably oer the weekend, with the DailyMail now claiming:

The captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia was delivering a ‘salute’ to a friend on shore when he sailed into disaster, it was claimed last night. Francesco Schettino, 52, has been arrested on suspicion of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship when the cruise liner ran aground after sustaining a 160ft gash in the port-side hull – leaving at least five dead and 15 missing. Italian investigators are working on the theory that the £390million vessel sailed close to the island of Giglio to greet an officer from the Italian merchant navy who was friendly with those on the Concordia.

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[source: dailymail, dailymail, bbc]