Hope fades for 16 still missing with search suspended as stricken cruise ship slips into the sea(photo)

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Rescue divers have suspended the search for missing people 'indefinitely' after the Costa Concordia slipped 9cm from its rocky resting place - prompting fears it will soon plummet 100 metres down to the bottom of the Mediterranean.


Stormy weather has hampered search efforts this morning, with Giglio's Mayor Sergio Ortelli saying: 'The hopes of finding any more survivors are fading.' There are also worries oil could start to spill from the ship - sparking an environmental disaster.


A five-year-old Italian girl and her father are believed to be among the passengers still missing after the grounding of the Costa Concordia.


William Arlotti, 34, and his daughter Dyana, from Rimini, are among 16 still unaccounted for after the luxury cruise ship ran aground off the island of Giglio and then partially sank on Friday night, Italian media reports.


The naming of the remaining missing people comes as investigators revealed another body had been found - taking the official death toll to six.

Five-year-old Dyana's mother, Susy Albertini told Italian newspaper Voce di Romagna: 'I have made hundreds of phone calls to my ex-husband, but he does not respond.


'I called all the authorities, the Police Prefecture to the Marina di Grosseto, the fire department, but nobody can tell me anything about my daughter.The last time I saw Dyana was Thursday morning. I took her to kindergarten.


'In the evening her father picked her up. It is not the first time she has gone with her father on a cruise. I heard there were problems on the ship on Saturday morning from his parents. Meanwhile, I continue to call everyone and no one can tell me anything about my daughter.'


Miss Albertini's mother, Alberta Sartini, added: 'We are waiting for news, we are on tenterhooks.My daughter had trusted to give the child to her former husband and the child was happy to go on a cruise with him. I hope with all my heart they come back.'


The sixth victim was a man, found in a corridor in the part of the ship that was still above water, who was still wearing his orange lifejacket. Others confirmed dead include two men, 86-year-old Italian Giovanni Masia and Spaniard Guillermo Gual, 68, discovered at an emergency gathering point near the restaurant.


Two French passengers and Peruvian crew member Tomas Costilla Mendoza have also been confirmed dead. The number unaccounted for increased because two Sicilian women, originally listed among the evacuated, have not contacted relatives. Of the sixteen missing, ten are passengers and six crew members.


Six of the tourists are Italian, including Arlotti and his daughter, a couple from Biella and two women from Enna in Sicily. Two Americans on their 'holiday of a lifetime' are also still unaccounted for. Gerald and Barbara Heil, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, were confirmed as missing by their daughter.








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