Indian survivors of a capsized Italian cruise liner arrive in New Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 19 (ANI): Nearly fifteen Indian survivors of the capsized Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia arrived here today to leave for their respective homes.

Atleast eleven people died and 22 went missing after the 114,500 tonne Italian cruise ship struck a rock and sunk off the Isola del Giglio island in Italy, almost a week back.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, who has been blamed for causing the accident and subsequently abandoning the vessel before the evacuation was complete, was put under house arrest on Tuesday after being questioned by a judge.

The Italian luxury liner was carrying more than 4,200 people, out of which 203 were Indians including one passenger and 202 crew members.

"Captain announced that there is an electric fault so everybody took it easy. But as the ship took an about turn it began to sink as water had started entering into it. He rang the emergency alarm very late. It was a captain's fault," said Mukesh Kumar, one of the crew members.

"The coast guard came with their helicopter, ship, small boasts though we had our own launches to evacuate the ship," added Gandhari Surjan Singh, another crew member.

According to media reports, 33-year-old Indian Robello Russel Terence, still remains untraceable.

Most of the passengers and crew survived despite hours of chaos and confusion after the collision. The distress alarm was raised not by an SOS ('Save our ship') from the ship but mobile phone calls from passengers on board to Italian police on the mainland. (ANI)