A boat with rescue workers is seen near the Costa Concordia cruise ship
A boat with rescue workers is seen near the Costa Concordia cruise ship. Reports are that rescuers found five more bodies on Tuesday, bring the death tool to 11. Reuters

A new audio recording has emerged of the first contact between an anonymous Italian port officials and the Costa Concordia liner after it hit a rock off the Tuscan Coast of Giglio Island.

In the tape, the officer on board insists the ship is undergoing an electricity "black-out". However, at the time of the recording, the impact with the rock had happened some 30 minutes before and the luxury liner was about to run aground.

The crew member assures he was checking out the reasons for the black-out, but he does not mention that the ship had hit a rock.

The recording was broadcasted by Sky Italia. It was made at around 10pm on Friday.

Captain Francesco Schettino is under house arrest, facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning the ship. He is facing a least 12 years in jail if convicted

Eleven people have been confirmed dead and 21 others are still missing. Three more bodies were found on Thursday, a French couple and a Spanish man of Majorca.

The exchange between port officials in Livorno and the Concordia, as translated by The Daily Telegraph:

LIVORNO PORT OFFICIAL: Good evening Costa Concordia. Do you have problems on board?

CONCORDIA: Yes, affirmative, we have a black-out on board. We are checking the situation.

LIVORNO PORT OFFICIAL: Do you need assistance or for the moment are you only staying in the Giglio area?

CONCORDIA: Yes, affirmative, we are staying here in the area to verify the black-out.

LIVORNO PORT OFFICIAL: What type of problem, only generators? Because the Carabinieri of Prato got a call from a relative of a crew member who said that during the dinner everything fell on his head.

CONCORDIA: No, negative, we have a black-out and we are verifying the conditions on board.

LIVORNO PORT OFFICIAL: Yes, since the passengers said you made them put on life jackets, is this correct?

CONCORDIA: I repeat, we are verifying the conditions of the blackout.

LIVORNO PORT OFFICIAL: How long has there been this blackout?

CONCORDIA: Approximately 20 minutes, 20 minutes.

LIVORNO PORT OFFICIAL: OK, we go back on (channel) 16. Keep us informed of the situation.

CONCORDIA: Affirmative, we'll stay on standby on (channel) 16. We'll keep you informed.