Survivors feared capsized boat would fall on them

There weren't enough rescue boats say passengers of the Italian cruise ship that ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio.
American Alex Beach says she and her husband were among the lucky ones.
SOUNDBITE: American passenger from the Costa Concordia cruise ship Alex Beach saying:
"It took us five tries on different boats to get on. My husband and I finally got on and we still feel so fortunate. We feel so fortunate we made it on a boat because others didn't. We feel very fortunate."
Passengers say they stood in the dark trying to make sense of the directions coming from over the intercom.
SOUNDBITE: Unidentified American passenger from the Costa Concordia cruise ship saying;
"We were told that the electrical system was failing and at first we were told not to panic and just stay wherever we were and they'd get us more information. You know, they were saying it in seven different languages, luckily they said it in English, but most people were speaking in Italian the whole time. We grabbed our life vests and went down to where everyone else was and they were already loading the boats and so we didn't realize how bad it was until that point, I think. We were actually abandoning ship. But they didn't have enough room on the boats for us so we had to wait."
As one side of the boat began sinking deeper into the water, passengers were forced to make a decision --- wait for a rescue boat or try and swim to shore.
SOUNDBITE: South African passenger from the Costa Concordia cruise ship, Lawrenece Davies, saying:
"We were standing and the water started coming on my feet, and I said to my wife 'that's it, we're going.' We jumped in the water and we swam. We jumped in the water and we swam to the shore. And what I was very worried about when I was swimming, I kept looking at the boat, it was coming (down) so I wanted to make sure I could get further away, so that if it comes it doesn't trap us."
In the cold waters, passengers fought over lifejackets, paddling furiously to get away from the ship.
Three people are dead but Italian officials say they still do not know how many of the 4,229 passengers and crew on board the Costa Concordia are still missing.
Deborah Gembara, Reuters.