The underwater search has been called off indefinitely because of deteriorating conditions.

Divers have been dealing with corridors cluttered with furniture, turbid waters, and an underwater limit of 50 minutes that makes it hard to venture too far into the wreck of the 290-metre long vessel.

Specialist equipment will now be used to check if there could be any corpses on the sea bed.

Seventeen people have been confirmed dead and 15 remain missing after the ship, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, crashed onto rocks after its captain steered to within 150 metres of the tiny island of Giglio.

Authorities said the decision to abandon the search had been finalised after the families of the missing had been informed.

Work to recover the wreck could take up to 10 months.

The operation to pump out more than 2,000 tonnes of fuel from the ship has been hampered by bad weather.

The search will continue in other sections of the half-submerged ship and in waters up to 18 square kilometres around the vessel, where a number of objects have been spotted which investigators believe could turn out to be bodies.

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