By . Nick Pisa On Giglio Island . Last updated at 3:30 PM on 22nd January 2012 . Hundreds of tragedy tourists - armed with picnics and cameras - have arrived on the tiny island of Giglio as rescue workers halted their search of the wrecked super liner Costa Concordia once again. Ferries from the mainland, which would normally be empty at this time of year, were packed as people craned their necks from the decks to catch a glimpse of the stricken Concordia, where so far 12 bodies have been recovered with another 20 still missing. The disaster day trippers sat on rocks just a short distance from where coastguard, firefighters and navy dive teams were searching the 114,000 ton liner as the hunt resumed, after it had once again been called off as the ship had moved slightly overnight. People have been visiting the island to look at the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia . Some visitors had travelled for hours to get to the island and came armed with picnic baskets and cameras . Families with young children made their way across the sandy beach to Seagull Point where the ship is resting and took pictures of each other with the Concordia in the background before unpacking picnics and tucking into panini in the warm winter sunshine. Officials said that on Saturday alone more than 1,000 tourists had arrived on the island of Giglio on ferries from the Italian mainland - almost ten times the usual figure for a weekend in the low season. Many even called in at the local information office asking if there was any room to stay while others simply arrived on one ferry took pictures of the scene and then immediately left on the following service - spending little more than an hour on Giglio which is just off the Tuscan coast. Truck driver Stefano Lagorio, 35, arrived with his parents after a four hour 330 mile drive and 50 minute ferry trip, and as he took a swig from a beer bottle he said: 'To be honest I am here out of curiosity. I saw it on the TV and just decided to come down and have a look. The ferry over from the mainland was packed with tourists. 'You could tell they were all day trippers as they had rucksacks and plastic shopping bags with picnics. As we approached on the ferry everyone went up on deck and started taking pictures with cameras and their telephones. It was quite a sight to see. We will have a bite to eat here on the rocks by the ship and then head back to Genoa - I'm back at work tomorrow.' Campsite worker Lino Amato, 49, had driven two hours from Florence with his Irish born wife Sharon Murray, 42, and their two children aged 12 and six years old to look at the stricken ship as coastguard and fire fighter boats bobbed up and down next to it. Giglio Tourist Board has said they are trying to discourage people from visiting the island to 'gawp' at the vessel . A man gets close to the water where he takes a picture of a bench which appears to have come from the ship . Twelve people have been found dead and there are 20 missing from the Costa Concordia which ran aground of the west coast of Italy . Lino, who was snapping pictures with his camera, said: 'When you see it this close it is hard to imagine how a ship that size could end up like that. We live two hours away but decided to come down and show the children. It's history really when you think about it.' While Sharon said: 'We couldn't get on the first ferry as it was full so we had to wait for another one. That one was packed as well. You could see people were there just for the day - they outnumbered the emergency services who were on board. Captain Francesco Schettino who abandoned the ship before his passengers . 'I used to work with Costa years ago so that's what made me come and have a look. When you see it this close it's hard to imagine how people could have died - it's so close to the rocks you could swim to safety.' Truck driver Sandro Baldan, 33, was sitting on rocks looking at the Costa with his partner Ivana Boscolo, 33, and as he munched on a slice of pizza he said: 'I'm only here because my girlfriend wanted to come and have a look. We have come from Turin. It was a six hour drive to the port on the mainland and then we got a ferry over first thing in the morning. 'To be honest it was just something to do as it was a Sunday and we both had the day off - I suppose we are here out of curiosity really. When you see the ship it just doesn't seem real. It's like something from a film set. We had trouble getting on the first ferry so got the next one. 'We will spend a few hours here then head back to Turin - it's a six hour drive and we both need to get back to work on Monday.' Elizabeth Nanni, vice president of Giglio Tourist Board, said: 'I actually find this sort of day tripping quite sad - I know it's a normal reaction, you can see it on the motorway when people slow down to look at an accident but people have died here and others are missing. 'I suppose if there were no deaths it would have been OK but that's what I find quite eerie, that people are coming over to look at the place where people died. It's just morbid curiosity really. We have had lots of calls from people asking if there are hotel rooms on the island. 'People just want to come and stay here so they can look but we have told them to wait a few weeks and come and visit this beautiful island when this is all over. I really don't agree with it. It's inappropriate that people are coming over just to gawp. 'At this time of year, it's low season, so we would get maybe get two hundred people over a weekend coming over for a day - that's if the weather is nice but the ferry people have told me more than 1,000 people came over just on Saturday and hundreds have been arriving today.' Libero Schiaffino, who works in the ticket booth for ferry company Toremar, said : 'I have never seen anything like this. In the winter we wouldn't get as many tourists as this coming over for the day. The weekend before the accident we had 131 people visiting now it's ten times that. Rescue workers have been forced to abandon the latest rescue search because of difficult conditions . Some tourists have even asked to hire boats so they can get closer to the wreckage but the area is restricted to rescue workers only . 'People have even been asking me where they can hire a boat so they can get closer to the ship but the area is a crime scene and it is closed off to everyone apart from the emergency services. One couple came over from the mainland on the 2.30pm ferry and then bought a ticket for the same ferry back. 'When you think it takes 50 minutes to cross the water and it leaves at 4pm they were here for less than an hour.' Meanwhile it has also emerged that the island's council want the rock which broke off the reef and embedded itself in the hull of the Concordia tearing a 70m gash to be removed and remain as a permanent memorial to the dead. The huge boulder broke off from a reef off the south east coast of the island known as Le Scole and has amazed coastguards who say it is the first time they have known of a rock breaking off and remaining in the hull of a ship. The tiny Tuscan island is usually quiet this time of year with only a handful of tourists visiting during the winter months but there has been an influx of visitors because of the incident . Mario Pellegrini said: 'That rock has become a symbol of this tragedy. It was one of the first things that struck us when we saw the ship in daylight - I've never known of a ship striking a rock and having a piece left embedded inside it. 'The idea would be that once this is all over we will remove the rock and place it somewhere as a memorial. It will be a reminder of what happened that night and we will put the names of all the victims on it.' Officials said that eight out of the 12 bodies recovered so far have been identified, while three men and a woman, are still unidentified. Rescue chief Franco Gabrielli also said some of the missing may not have been properly registered. Italian media have speculated that some of the missing crew from South America and Asia may have been employed without proper contracts and working illegally and therefore not registered.
Ferries from the mainland ten times fuller than they would normally be at this time of year .
Giglio Tourist Board said they feel uncomfortable with people visiting the island to 'gawp' at the vessel .
By . Nick Pisa On Giglio Island . Last updated at 3:30 PM on 22nd January 2012 . Hundreds of tragedy tourists - armed with picnics and cameras - have arrived on the tiny island of Giglio as rescue workers halted their search of the wrecked super liner Costa Concordia once again. Ferries from the mainland, which would normally be empty at this time of year, were packed as people craned their necks from the decks to catch a glimpse of the stricken Concordia, where so far 12 bodies have been recovered with another 20 still missing. The disaster day trippers sat on rocks just a short distance from where coastguard, firefighters and navy dive teams were searching the 114,000 ton liner as the hunt resumed, after it had once again been called off as the ship had moved slightly overnight. People have been visiting the island to look at the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia . Some visitors had travelled for hours to get to the island and came armed with picnic baskets and cameras . Families with young children made their way across the sandy beach to Seagull Point where the ship is resting and took pictures of each other with the Concordia in the background before unpacking picnics and tucking into panini in the warm winter sunshine. Officials said that on Saturday alone more than 1,000 tourists had arrived on the island of Giglio on ferries from the Italian mainland - almost ten times the usual figure for a weekend in the low season. Many even called in at the local information office asking if there was any room to stay while others simply arrived on one ferry took pictures of the scene and then immediately left on the following service - spending little more than an hour on Giglio which is just off the Tuscan coast. Truck driver Stefano Lagorio, 35, arrived with his parents after a four hour 330 mile drive and 50 minute ferry trip, and as he took a swig from a beer bottle he said: 'To be honest I am here out of curiosity. I saw it on the TV and just decided to come down and have a look. The ferry over from the mainland was packed with tourists. 'You could tell they were all day trippers as they had rucksacks and plastic shopping bags with picnics. As we approached on the ferry everyone went up on deck and started taking pictures with cameras and their telephones. It was quite a sight to see. We will have a bite to eat here on the rocks by the ship and then head back to Genoa - I'm back at work tomorrow.' Campsite worker Lino Amato, 49, had driven two hours from Florence with his Irish born wife Sharon Murray, 42, and their two children aged 12 and six years old to look at the stricken ship as coastguard and fire fighter boats bobbed up and down next to it. Giglio Tourist Board has said they are trying to discourage people from visiting the island to 'gawp' at the vessel . A man gets close to the water where he takes a picture of a bench which appears to have come from the ship . Twelve people have been found dead and there are 20 missing from the Costa Concordia which ran aground of the west coast of Italy . Lino, who was snapping pictures with his camera, said: 'When you see it this close it is hard to imagine how a ship that size could end up like that. We live two hours away but decided to come down and show the children. It's history really when you think about it.' While Sharon said: 'We couldn't get on the first ferry as it was full so we had to wait for another one. That one was packed as well. You could see people were there just for the day - they outnumbered the emergency services who were on board. Captain Francesco Schettino who abandoned the ship before his passengers . 'I used to work with Costa years ago so that's what made me come and have a look. When you see it this close it's hard to imagine how people could have died - it's so close to the rocks you could swim to safety.' Truck driver Sandro Baldan, 33, was sitting on rocks looking at the Costa with his partner Ivana Boscolo, 33, and as he munched on a slice of pizza he said: 'I'm only here because my girlfriend wanted to come and have a look. We have come from Turin. It was a six hour drive to the port on the mainland and then we got a ferry over first thing in the morning. 'To be honest it was just something to do as it was a Sunday and we both had the day off - I suppose we are here out of curiosity really. When you see the ship it just doesn't seem real. It's like something from a film set. We had trouble getting on the first ferry so got the next one. 'We will spend a few hours here then head back to Turin - it's a six hour drive and we both need to get back to work on Monday.' Elizabeth Nanni, vice president of Giglio Tourist Board, said: 'I actually find this sort of day tripping quite sad - I know it's a normal reaction, you can see it on the motorway when people slow down to look at an accident but people have died here and others are missing. 'I suppose if there were no deaths it would have been OK but that's what I find quite eerie, that people are coming over to look at the place where people died. It's just morbid curiosity really. We have had lots of calls from people asking if there are hotel rooms on the island. 'People just want to come and stay here so they can look but we have told them to wait a few weeks and come and visit this beautiful island when this is all over. I really don't agree with it. It's inappropriate that people are coming over just to gawp. 'At this time of year, it's low season, so we would get maybe get two hundred people over a weekend coming over for a day - that's if the weather is nice but the ferry people have told me more than 1,000 people came over just on Saturday and hundreds have been arriving today.' Libero Schiaffino, who works in the ticket booth for ferry company Toremar, said : 'I have never seen anything like this. In the winter we wouldn't get as many tourists as this coming over for the day. The weekend before the accident we had 131 people visiting now it's ten times that. Rescue workers have been forced to abandon the latest rescue search because of difficult conditions . Some tourists have even asked to hire boats so they can get closer to the wreckage but the area is restricted to rescue workers only . 'People have even been asking me where they can hire a boat so they can get closer to the ship but the area is a crime scene and it is closed off to everyone apart from the emergency services. One couple came over from the mainland on the 2.30pm ferry and then bought a ticket for the same ferry back. 'When you think it takes 50 minutes to cross the water and it leaves at 4pm they were here for less than an hour.' Meanwhile it has also emerged that the island's council want the rock which broke off the reef and embedded itself in the hull of the Concordia tearing a 70m gash to be removed and remain as a permanent memorial to the dead. The huge boulder broke off from a reef off the south east coast of the island known as Le Scole and has amazed coastguards who say it is the first time they have known of a rock breaking off and remaining in the hull of a ship. The tiny Tuscan island is usually quiet this time of year with only a handful of tourists visiting during the winter months but there has been an influx of visitors because of the incident . Mario Pellegrini said: 'That rock has become a symbol of this tragedy. It was one of the first things that struck us when we saw the ship in daylight - I've never known of a ship striking a rock and having a piece left embedded inside it. 'The idea would be that once this is all over we will remove the rock and place it somewhere as a memorial. It will be a reminder of what happened that night and we will put the names of all the victims on it.' Officials said that eight out of the 12 bodies recovered so far have been identified, while three men and a woman, are still unidentified. Rescue chief Franco Gabrielli also said some of the missing may not have been properly registered. Italian media have speculated that some of the missing crew from South America and Asia may have been employed without proper contracts and working illegally and therefore not registered.
from the mainland, which would normally be empty at this time of year, were packed as people discourage people from visiting the island to 'gawp' at the vessel . A man gets close to the president of Giglio Tourist Board, said: 'I