Recording: Italian captain abandoned wrecked ship

The captain of a cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Italy Friday escaped on his own, leaving 4,000 panic passengers behind, a recorded conversation between the captain and a port official released Tuesday by local media suggested.

Italian Navy divers approach the partially submerged Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia that ran aground off the west coast of Italy, at the Tuscan island of Giglio, Jan. 17, 2012. Navy divers set off explosives Tuesday to create small openings in the hull of the cruise liner to speed the search for the 29 missing passengers and crew. [Wang Qingqin/Xinhua]

In the phone conversation, which was recorded after the crash, captain Francesco Schettino refused to go back to the Costa Concordia to coordinate rescue operations, as ordered by local port authority chief Gregorio De Falco.

"You have to go aboard, this is an order," De Falco repeatedly told Schettino after finding that the captain is already on a lifeboat together with other officials.

"Go back to the ship, and tell me immediately how many children, women and people in need of protection there are on board," De Falco said.

The captain, however, who has been arrested over charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship, is heard replying that there were rescuers on board, that he himself had no choice but getting into the lifeboat, and finally that it is dark and hard to see.

The death toll from the wreck of Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia rose to 11 on Tuesday as five more bodies were found in the vessel.

According to local authorities, 24 people from the ship are now still missing, and chances of them being found alive are getting slimmer.