i'm jessica yellin. tonight we're live in italy as the certainly for survivors aboard a capsized cruise ship becomes more urgent and dangerous. we'll also take you inside the ultimate and deadly serious video game. see how captains are taught to handle ships the size of skyscrapers and avoid disasters like the one off the coast of italy. also this hour, we're releasing new numbers from our brand new poll. what voters think about the economy might be good news for the obama campaign. we begin in italy where late today search crews finally were able to go back inside a capsized cruise ship looking for any sign of survivors who may be trapped alive. just a short time ago, officials raised the number of missing to 29, including 25 passengers and four crew members. time is running out. the ship hit the rocks off the western italian coast on friday night, killing at least six people. when the captain and a number of crew members abandoned ship, thousands of passengers were left to fend for themselves. >> we went up to the top deck to look over to the side and we were shocked to see that we were right next to land. and i think at this point is when we realized that we were in trouble. >> cnn's senior international correspondent dan rivers is in italy for us tonight. hi, dan. first, if you could, give us the latest count of missing persons as you know it. >> reporter: well, we have been reporting all day that the number of missing persons was 16. within the last hour or so, it's jumped to 29. now, it's not quite clear why that is. but it's possible this relates possibly to a party of german passengers aboard. it had been suggested earlier on and some german networks were reporting this that there was a large number of german passengers unaccounted for. now it seems they've done some sort of recalculation of the number of missing. obviously it's been pretty chaotic with 4,000 people on that ship. now they decided to put that death toll up to 29. so the certainly and rescue will continue, clearly through the night unthey can ascertain exactly who is missing, who has perished and who made it ashore. >> 29 is the missing total, not the death total. investigators we understand, dan, have recovered the so-called black box. i imagine that's similar to what's found in an airplane crash. do we know anything about what they're learning from the black box or black boxes? s>> reporter: well, they've indicated to us that they have got gps plots of the exact position of the costas concordia and clearly, it shows it went way too close to the coast. i mean, they're going to go back over obviously all of the data relating to what actions were taken by the captain and the crew after it hit that rock, but it now seems almost certain that they were way too close. they were in the wrong place. and you know, the captain's defense in all this has been he thought that they were 300 meters away trt shore. seems that they were a lot closer than that. he's been maintaining that there was a rock that they hit that wasn't on his charts. well all the locals here are saying this is a very well mapped part of the coast. it's very popular with divers. there's no possible way, they say, that there could be a rock unknown to the add military charts here. >> let's just hope those rescue efforts do yield something positive. dan, thank you so much. dan rivers reporting for us from italy. just to give you a sense of how big the ship really is, it carried about twice as many people as the tie tannic. passengers say the chaotic scramble to abandon the ship was just like a scene out of the movie. >> at that the point, the boat was really leaning over quite a bit and it was actually difficult to walk in the ship. >> and things started to actually fly. >> fly. so how could such a catastrophic accident happen in this day and age? tom foreman is here now with a closer look. hey, tom. >> you mentioned the tie tannic a minute ago. if you put it alongside the costa concordia, it would be about this size. it was a much smaller vessel. this carried about twice as many passengers and much bigger and everything that went wrong with the tie tannic has been considered ever since in the construction of ships like this. so how did this happen? let's take a look at some of what happened in the actual event. look at the key questions. first of all, how did it wind up over here viking this rock? this was the key question. now, you have the captain saying his instrumentation told him that everything was fine. one of the questions people are asking is about the power outage that occurred as soon as it hit. these really are floating cities. they're not supposed to lose power in that way even after a collision. some people have been asking the question, does that suggest there was an underlying electrical problem beforehand that was affecting the navigation equipment that somehow led to this. here comes the second question in all of this. once the ship kept moving on, why did it start tilting so badly so quickly? look at the pictures here. there was a tremendous amount of damage obviously to the ship itself. a huge gash in the side. but we also know that ships like this are made with a series of water tight compartments that are supposed to keep it afloat even with massive damage and just as importantly, these ships are designed to remain upright even when they've been damaged. that's key because if you want to lower boats to help people off, you have to remain up right. if you want to use it as your primary rescue vessel which is what you're supposed to do, you have to remain upright. last question in all of this, why was the evacuation so late in being ordered and why was it handled soy badly? why did you have crew members who according to witnesses gave contradictory information? why did the people on board not have a clear sense that an evacuation had even been called for many people? some say the only reason they knew is because they had been on cruises before and they recognizesed the sig fal on the ship's horns. tremendous chaos as it got under w way. >> the stories about the evacuation are so upsetting. thank you, tom. and we will get back to the disaster story on that cruise ship. for now, we will have brand new poll numbers about the presidential race we want to get to. with cnn's gloria borger. at least two of president obama's republican opponents have caught up with him. there's also a new snapshot of how americans feel about issue number one in this election, the economy. as i said, cnn chief political analyst gloria borger here to take us through the numbers. i'll let you lead us off. which numbers did you find most interesting? >> i think the most interesting number really are these match-ups between -- and again, it's early, it's early, of course. between mitt romney and barack obama. and barack obama and ron paul. so you want to take a look at those? let's take a look. mitt romney in this match-up, 48%, you'll see, to obama 47%. so that shows this is going to be a very, very close race if indeed mitt romney is the nominee. but here's the really interesting number, jess. when you match-up ron paul with barack obama, take a look at this, still a statistical dead heat here. you know, we have a three-point margin of error in this poll. so we have ron paul. >> pretty amazing. >> it is amazing because what it seems to me is you have ron paul essentially in a ross perot position right now. you go back to 1992. ross perot was not likely to become the nominee, ran as an independent. but he really affected the issues terrain. and that was very, very important. >> or is it just people are so upset with the economy, anybody but president obama right now? >> people are very, very upset with the economy and they're looking at obama and saying you know, it's not getting any better. except, jessica, we also have a poll which shows that there may be a little bit be less pessimism about the economy if you take a look at this, we have a poll which shows that people now rate the committee, this is a different one. okay. >> we'll go past that one and talk about pessimism and the economy. good, 18 percent. do we have that number? there we go. was 15% in november. somewhat poor, 42, was 34%. so people think it's somewhat poor. if you look at the very poor number, a 13-point differential, jessica. >> and that's positive for the president because it shows that some people think that maybe he's making a little bit of progress in improving the economy. >> exactly and that he possibly is leading us out of it. again, without going to that other poll we showed, let me just say that people right now seem to trust mitt romney more to handle the economy than barack obama. >> which would be the fundamental question in this election. >> and that shows that his campaign theme of business experience and i can do it, i know how to get it done, might actually be taking hold. >> if he's the candidate, we have a big fight ahead. >> we do. >> okay, gloria borger, thanks so much. >> close one too. coming up, this programming note, cnn's john king will moderate this thursday's southern republican presidential debate. join us thursday night at 8:00 eastern just two days before the all-important south carolina primary. and in addition to politics tonight, we'll try to answer your questions about cruise ship safety. a cruise industry leader joins us next. and later, a busy artist carves the presidential candidates in sand. but can't keep up with today's dramatic change in the race. you name it. i've tried it. but nothing helped me beat my back pain. then i tried salonpas. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. 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[ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. in italy, the urgent search is back on for 29 missing including two americans still unaccounted for after the massive cruise ship began to sink. a lot of questions now about why this happened and how safe are these giant cruise liners. for some answers, michael krooi, executive vice president of cruise line international association joins us. thank you, sir, for being with us. first of all. >> everything that you, jessica. >> i'd like to begin by asking you about the evacuation. first, reports say it took up to an hour for evacuation for the crews to even announce to people they should abandon the ship. if that's true, is that acceptab acceptable? >> well, i'm not sure we have all of the details yet. these items are under full investigation by the italian authorities. so i think it would be a little bit premature for me to speculate on what did or did not happen. i can tell you -- >> can we listen to what some of the passengers had to say? >> sure. >> because they were there and they can tell us a little bit about what did happen. can we play some of this now? >> and in english, they said that everything's under control. that there had been an electrical failure and there was a rob with the generator. everything's under control. and my husband and i looked at each other and said, they're full of it. >> it was just battling to get on the lifeboats. the crew was yelling to are people to wait their turn. pretty much it was just a giant every man for himself to get onto the lifeboats the first ones before they were even lowered. >> so they were there. we know that they were firsthand witnesses to what happened. is it acceptable for them to be told everything's under control? >> i think what we're talking about here is the situation that was rapidly evolving. the ship obviously went aground. the captain i've been told was immediately attempting to get the ship closer to shore. he did not know the extent of the damage, but it's obvious at this point that there was massive damage and massive amounts of water that was taken in. and the ship lost some of its stability and began to list immediately. and when it did begin to list, the lifeboats on the lower side of the ship were able to be lowers. but those on the upper side of the ship weren't. they actually had to move people from one side of the ship to the other in order to be able to accommodate them. >> isn't that precisely why they're supposed to do a rapid evacuation and is it policy to do a rapid evacuation supposed to telling people everything's okay? >> well, the rules of the international maritime organization, the safety of life at sea treaty, required that when you have begun you're vacation, have you approximately 30 minutes to get the people off. so 30 minutes is generally the standard to which ships are held. >> may i ask you, this is not the first time this ship has been involved in an accident. on november 22nd, 2008, the concordia col collided with a pier in sicily during a storm. there were other citizens. is it common for cruise ships to have accidents and the general public just don't know about it and you board a ship that's been in many accidents before? >> well, i can tell you that this industry has a remarkable safety record between 2005 and to date, there's been over 100 million passengers carried on board cruise ships throughout the world. and during that time, we can only record where 16 deaths related to maritime accidents. so yes, accidents do occur. anytime you're operating on ships in very complicated areas, there are accidents. but this is a remarkable safety record. 16 deaths out of 100 million passengers. every one of those. >> let's hope that record doesn't double with this one or worse. >> absolutely. this is an absolute tragedy that affected us all. and it's one in which we as an industry will participate very strongly in the lessons learned and to determine if there needs to be corrective actions that are taken. and we'll do that. >> thank you. michael crye, thanks for being with us. appreciate it. next a special delivery that took cutting through 300 miles of ice. we'll also show you what some creative cooks can do with 20 pounds of butter, 55 pounds of marshmallows and a gun made out of pure sugar. old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. 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[ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. get this free travel bag when you join there is a platform built for the purpose of driving innovation. one that's transforming how companies from every industry-- and of every size-- are doing business. a platform built for now. and for what's next. this...is the cisco intelligent network. cisco. and you are looking now at brand new video from the italian coast guard of the costa concordia taken just hours after the accident there. this is infrared video showing survivors on the boat looking for rescue. the warm areas, the areas of darkness are the survivors waiting for rescue. apparently waiting for boats or a way to escape and again, appears to be taken in those hours after immediately after the accident as the boat was beginning to sink and list. we will show you more of this video and continue to bring you more details of this accident as we get them and throughout the show. but for now, here's kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know right now institute good evening, everyone. it's mission almost accomplished. in nome, alaska, a russian tanker arrived over the weekend carrying over a million gallons of fuel following a u.s. coast guard ice breaker through 300 miles of sea ice. bad weather blocked the supply route last november and nome would have run out of fuel by march. all they have to do is unload the tanker and find their way out again. problems with a computer circuit board are behind the recall of before mini coopers in the united states. the board controls the cooling system and if it goes, your water pump could start -- it includes some 2007 through 2011 s hambacks and convertibles and the club man s and the john cooper, would versions. so take a look. check this one out. in myrtle beach, south carolina, a team of artists carved the images of five republican presidential images in the sand. 525 tons of sand to be exact. they started last tuesday which explains why unfortunately jon huntsman's face is still in the group. now they have to find a way to carve it out, if that's even possible. check this out star wars fans. here's an imperial storm trooper you will like. he's a piece of cake, of course. 300 pounds of cake, icing and rice krispie marshmallow treats served as a convention in boston the bakers say for $9,000, you too can have one of these delicious treats. apparently it served 600 people. >> that's what it cost to get it made, $9,000? >> i guess they donated it. that's a lot of cake, jess. >> what is marshmallow treats, there's like sugar and butter and rice krispies. >> what is it, sugar, water, flour. >> but the artistry. >> it is great artistry. ahead, some firsthand accounts from the frightened passengers who had to get off that sinking cruise ship with virtually no help. >> it was just battling mad scrambling to get in the lifeboats. nobody followed any procedure. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. in this half passengers rece their cruise ship was rollingmbo get off parting shots from. those shots aren't just opponen at theorsed. we also have the topex to w. see how many you've tried. first tonight's top story. an unexplained increase in the number of people missing after the deadly cruise ship accident off the italian coast. cnn confirms a total of 29 people, four crew members and 25 passengers, are unaccounted for after friday's accident. six people already confirmed dead. rescue efforts were suspended for part of today when the ship began to move in the shallow waters. about 4,000 people were aboard the ship when it hit some rocks and capsized. the crew and many crew members abandoned the ship leaving the passengers on tear own. cnn's mary snow spent the day reviewing stories of survival. >> reporter: amateur video captured the scene aboard the costa concordia friday night. despite what passengers were being told, brandon warrick of boston on board with his two siblings describes massive panic. >> it was just battling. nobody followed any procedure. the crew was yelling for people to wait their turn, and there was just a giant every man for himself to get onto the lifeboats. the first ones before they were even lowered. >> and once aboard in pitch black darkness, there were terrifying moments. >> at one point we were being lowered and we went sliding off to one side. everybody fell into one side of the lifeboat. and then we went slamming into the ship. this happened a few times over about 30 seconds. and then finally we were lowered to the water level. from there, it t