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Oil leak fears as hope fades in search for Costa Concordia survivors

With 29 people still listed as missing in the Costa Concordia catastrophe, hope is fading that any of them will now be found alive.

Emergency crews continue to work around the clock in a desperate effort to find anyone who may still be alive four days after after the 114,500-ton ship hit a sandbar off the Tuscan coast of Italy and capsized.

As the death toll rose to six overnight, the local coast guard chief said there was just a “glimmer of hope” that survivors could be found.

The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, 52, has been detained on suspicion of manslaughter and a judge will decide today whether he should remain in custody.

As the cruise industry tries to assess the impact the disaster will have,perhaps more worrying is the fear that the onset of bad weather may rupture the fuel tanks, causing tens of thousands of gallons of oil to leak in to the sea.