BBC News with Iain Purdon

The Italian port authorities say about 40 people remain

unaccounted for

after a cruise ship

ran aground

on the west coast of Italy with more than 4,000 passengers and crew on board. A major rescue operation has continued all day. Three people are known to have died. The president of the cruise line said preliminary evidence suggested the ship had struck a rock. The BBC's Alan Johnston is on the island of Giglio.

I can see four or five coast guard vessels in an arc around the ship with search lights playing on the waters, and over on the left I can see what looks like quite a large team of men, no doubt, more search rescue teams going out to the ship. And through the day, we know that divers have been going down into the decks that are

submerged

now and looking through the cabins and staterooms there, and this operation continues, and it must do with so many people still unaccounted for.

Reports say prosecutors have detained the ship's captain after questioning.

A suicide bomber in Iraq has killed more than 50 people and injured dozens in an attack on Shia pilgrims in the southern city of Basra. These witnesses described what happened.

"A man wearing a blue jacket, I think, was handing out biscuits to pilgrims. A policeman who thought he looked suspicious went over to him and arrested him, and that's when the explosion happened."

"There were 180 people, men and women. And with our own eyes, we saw ambulances