Cruise Ship Sinking: Rescue Search Suspended as Storm Threatens

Rescuers of the Costa Concordia stricken liner were forced to suspend search on Wednesday as the ship slipped into the water again, the Italian coast guard said. The threat of bad weather has increased concerns about the stability of the stricken liner off the coast of the the island of Giglio.

Emergency workers fear that the cruise ship could shift from the rock on which is laying and drift into open sea to sink entirely. The search for survivors has been stopped and resumed several times since the ship turned onto its side Friday night.

"Instruments indicated the ship had moved, we are in the process of evaluating if it has found a new resting point to allow us to resume. For the moment we cannot even go near it,' emergency services spokesman Luca Cari told Sky news.

Experts told CNN that chances of finding survivors are fading.

"I think you have to look at several issues. One of is just the hypothermia. If a compartment is flooded, even if there was air, at this point, most of them would have succumbed to the hypothermic problem of the water temperature," said Butch Hendrick, president of the diving safety company Lifeguard Systems.

The death toll from the disaster has been updated to 11 after five more bodies were discovered. About 24 people were still missing.

Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino has been placed under house arrest after a court appearance. Schettino has been accused of manslaughter and abandoning ship while passengers were still trapped inside.

People who have worked with him have called him a daredevil and better suited to driving a Ferrari. Mario Palombo, a former Costa commander, told La Repubblica: "I've always had my reservations about Schettino. He was too exuberant, a daredevil. More than once I had to put him in his place."

Schettino could face up to 12 years in jail, according to Italian nautical laws. His lawyer said the captain admitted his mistakes before the court, but claimed to have "saved hundreds, if not thousands, of lives" thanks to his final manoeuvre.

Urine samples were taken from Schettino for drug tests.