Large Italian cruise ship ran aground

In a shocking incident, emergency crews are searching for passengers of a cruise ship that ran aground Friday evening near an Italian island.

According to the BBC, the Costa Concordia ship was headed to the Mediterranean Sea when it smashed into rocks off the island coast of Giglio. The damage produced a gash about 160 feet wide.

Three people have been identified as dead, with 69 of the ship's 3,200 passengers still unaccounted for as of this report.

WATCH: Video from Youtube, which was published on January 14, 2012.