Three bodies have been pulled from the sea, Italian coastguards said. At least three more people who jumped overboard are also thought to have perished as panic spread through the Costa Concordia.

One victim was a man in his 70s who jumped into the icy waters and died of a heart attack caused by the shock to his system.

Over thirty people were injured in the horror, several with serious wounds. Divers were working to establish whether anyone was trapped in the submerged part of the ship after an obstacle tore a 160ft gash in the hull.

A huge rock was embedded in the side of the ship towards the stern.

Most the 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew were thought to have been rescued from the 950ft liner early this morning.

They were first taken to the nearby island off Giglio — off the Tuscan coast — before being transferred to the mainland.

Coastguards originally said the £450million six-year-old ship was listing at an angle of 20 degrees after running aground on a sandbar.

Catastrophe ... Costa Concordia lies on its side just metres from shore

But after assurances it was not in "imminent danger" of sinking, pictures emerged this morning of it lying on its side, half submerged in the water.

Sandra Cook, whose daughter Kirsty works as a dancer aboard the vessel, told how her daughter climbed down a rope ladder to reach a rescue boat.

Mrs Cook said: "Thank God she got off safely and survived it. I asked whether she had anything, she'd lost everything, and she said that she was lucky to be alive and very thankful."

Georgia Ananias, 61, from Los Angeles, described scrambling around the vessel, trying to get out.

Scared ... young boy wrapped in a blanket looks upset after being evacuated from sinking liner

She said: "We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing.

"We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls."

At one point a desperate Argentine couple handed her their three-year-old daughter.

She went on: "He said, 'Take my baby.' I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn't want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn't hold her.

"I thought that was the end and I thought they should be with their baby."

Sunk giant ... people gaze at stricken liner from the shore

Passengers on the seven-day Mediterranean cruise told of panic on board after hearing a big bang.

One, Luciano Castro, said: "We were having dinner when the lights suddenly went out. It seemed as if the ship had struck something.

"We heard a loud bang and everything fell to the floor.

"The captain said there had been an electrical fault but the ship almost immediately began to list. Glasses slid off the table.

"There were seven whistles and we were told to put on lifevests and head to the lifeboats. There was a real panic on board."

Holed ... major damage seen in the hull of the Costa Concordia

Fellow passenger Mara Parmegiani said: "It was like something out of the Titanic."

Fabio Costa, who worked in a shop on the ship, said a number of people were injured as panic spread and passengers shoved each other in a bid to get to lifeboats while some jumped into the sea to swim ashore.

He said: "We were all working and all of a sudden we felt the boat hitting something and everything just started to fall, all the glasses broke and everybody started to panic and run.

Sinking ... ship is almost completely under water

"We could only feel that the boat had hit something, we had no idea how serious it was until we got out and we looked through the window and we saw the water getting closer and closer.

"Everything happened really, really fast and we saw the water coming in.

"It was easier for people to jump into the sea because we were on the same level as that water so some people pretty much just decided to swim as they were not able to get on the lifeboats."

By The Sun