Italian rescue crews have continued searching for 24 passengers and crew members still missing after the Costa Concordia cruise liner capsized near the Tuscan coastline last Friday.

The search had to be postponed on Wednesday due to rough seas and weather conditions. New fears that the ship could shift and sink lower into the sea leaves many with a grim outlook at finding survivors. Environmental advocates are concerned about the possibility of 2,300 tonnes of diesel and oil leaking from the ship's fuel tanks. Extracting the oil could take nearly two weeks.

Currently 11 people have been confirmed dead with several dozen injured. The captain of the ship is under house arrest and is facing charges of manslaughter, causing a ship wreck, and leaving the vessel before everyone was evacuated.

Last month a couple was killed when their 17-foot Ranger Bass boat crashed into a dock late at night. The two were on their way back from a friend's house when the accident occurred at Lake Murray.

The driver, a 53 year-old man and his wife, have since been proven to be intoxicated with blood alcohol levels two to three times higher than the legal limit. The dock protrudes nearly 60 feet into the lake; the man hit the dock 12 feet from shore. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman's body was found early Saturday morning on the shoreline. Both died from severe head trauma as a result of the boating accident.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources are looking into options on how to prevent boating accidents. Ideas include imposing speed limits and adding more patrol units. However, adding more officers has proven to be extremely expensive.

In early December, three people were injured when a tour boat and a Coast Guard boat collided in Charleston Harbor.

The accident happened shortly after the annual Christmas Parade of Boats around 8:30 p.m. It is unknown why the Coast Guard slammed into the commercial catamaran. Three of the passengers on the the tour boat were injured. The boat also sustained damages but was not in the immediate danger of sinking. The accident is currently being investigated.

If you have been injured in a boating accident you deserve advice from an experienced lawyer, contact the Charleston boating accident lawyers of the Steinberg Law Firm by calling 843-720-2800.