alan pizzey, cbs news, giglio, italy. >> pelley: we were curious about the slope of the sea bed that was talking about so we got ahold of a nautical chart today and now we see why they're worried. just off the mediterranean island of giglio, the "costa concordia" lies on a rocky shelf, but have a look underwater, and you see she is on a steep, slippery slope. just below the shelf, the chart shows the sea bed drops quickly to 131 feet, and then on to 197 feet. is it she starts to go, it's a long way down. the u.s. military said today that it wasn't the enemy that brought down a u.s. helicopter in afghanistan yesterday but they're still investigating what did cause the crash. six marines were killed when their ch-53 went down in helmund province. their unit is based in hawaii. there are new signs of life in the housing market. what some old factory towns are doing to survive in a new economy. and remembering etta james. when the cbs evening news continues. lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable c

alan pizzey picks up the story. >> reporter: passengers had just sat down to dinner when they heard a loud bang. the impact tore a 160-foot gash in the hull and an eight-day mediterranean cruise turned into what some passengers described as scenes from the movie "titanic." with water pouring in, the costaa "concordia" began to list. the lucas family from girdwood, alaska knew it was time to go. >> when tiffs listing, you thought, there's water coming on board. there's something wrong if it's tipping like that. we went to the high side. that was chaotic. in the hallways, people had lifejackets on. the power was out. ( screaming ). >> reporter: at least they were on the side of the ship where they could get off. but the only way down was a rope ladder. >> people were panicking and yelling and pushing. they wanted to be the first on the life boats. we didn't get on the first life boats and they were gone and there we stood. >> reporter: the ship appears to have struck a reef. some passengers decided their only chance was to jump into the dark, freezing cold sea. mark and his wife, sarah,

alan pizzey is on the scene. a close call in the air. bob orr tells us how an air traffic controller put two planes on a collision course. the push to topple a dictator. liz palmer gives us a rare look at the people trying to end a 40-year dictatorship. and mark phillips with pieces of history lost and found. >> so this is the gate to the treasure trove. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. the captain in the italian inuise ship disaster now says he did not leave the ship intentionally. he is quoted tonight as telling investigators that with the ship listing to one side, he tripped and fell into a life boat. francesco schettino remains under house arrest this evening. the "costa concordia" lies off the west coast of italy, and in this new satellite photo, she lies beside the island of giglio where she hit the rocks. 11 people are confirmed dead. 21 others are missing, including a retired american couple. alan pizzey is at the scene. >> reporter: rescuers are still looking

alan pizzey reports another victim has been recovered from the con. the"costa concordia." and elaine quijano with a piece of south carolina history on view for the first time, nearly 150 years after going down during the civil war. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news." >> pelley: good evening. the polls will be closing in just half an hour in the first republican presidential primary in the south. and what happens in south carolina tonight could shake up the race for the g.o.p. nomination. here's why. a poll that came out just before the voting began today showed newt gingrich had opened a 14-point lead in south carolina over the national front-runner, mitt romney. gingrich with 40% to romney's 26%. when we asked south carolina voters today when they made up their mind in this fast-changing race, more than half, 53%, said they decided just today or in the last few days. we have a team of campaign 2012 correspondents covering the south carolina primary. first, dean reynolds in columbia with the gingrich campaign. dean. >> reporter: scott, i talked to t

alan pizzey is at the scene. >> reporter: rescuers are still looking but with no signs of life or noise coming from the ship, they're saying quietly that short of a miracle, there's little chance of finding survivors in the wreck. to add to the woes, the ship shifted a few inches today. its precashes position forced a temporary halt in the operations. the strain is showing on rescuers. one had to be brought back from the wreck on a stretcher after he collapsed. those under the most stress are the divers, specialist cave rescues teams have been brought in because as corrado camerini put it, the inside is like the inside of a cave, there is no light. >> like milk, like milk. the visibility, you can see your hands in front, your mask, nothing more. >> reporter: the efforts are concentrated on reaching the cabins of those known to be missing. the massive ship has 14 decks, 1500 cabins, and miles of corridors. no one can even guess how or why some people were trapped on board, other than to attribute it to the chaos. more booms have been laid between the ship and the coastline, a precaution

alan pizzey reports another victim has been recovered from the "costa concordia." and elaine quijano with a piece of south carolina history on view for the first time nearly 150 years after going down during the civil war. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: this is a special western edition. good evening. newt gingrich has shaken up the race for the republican presidential nomination. cbs news projects tonight that he has won the g.o.p. primary in south carolina, defeating the man who was once the front- runner, mitt romney. here are the votes as we have them so far. 43% of the vote in, and counting. here is the key to the gingrich victory. he got more than 40% of three important voting groups-- the tea party movement, conservatives, and evangelicals. we hav we have a team of correspondents covering the south carolina primary. first, dean reynolds with the gingrich campaign. dean. we're expecting the former speaker to be taking that platform any moment now. you know, his campaign sort of saw this thing shifting

alan pizzey has the latest from italy in just a few minutes.a group of social conservatives meeting this weekend in texas voted to support candidate rick santorum for the republican presidential nomination. posing a potential problem for frontrunner mitt romney. in an interview with the "washington post," former penn state football coach joe paterno says that he, in his words, didn't know which way to go after an assistant coach told him he had seen coach jerry sandusky sexually abusing a boy. paterno also tells the paper he had, again quoting, no inkling sandusky might be a child molestor. yesterday was graduation day for the very first group of students to attend oprah winfrey's boarding school for underprivileged girls in south africa. after the ceremony she told reporters that the girls could continue to rely on her support. there she is: miss america! 23-year-old laura kepler of wisconsin won the pageant in las vegas last night after singing opera and appearing in a white bikini. miss oklahoma betty thompson came in second, kaitlyne monte

alan pizzey is on the scene. a close call in the air. orr tells us how an air traffic controller put two planes on a collision course. the push to topple a dictator. liz palmer gives us a rare look at the people trying to end a 40-year dictatorship. and mark phillips with pieces of history lost and found. >> so this is the gate to the treasure trove. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. the captain in the italian cruise ship disaster now says he did not leave the ship intentionally. he is quoted tonight as telling investigators that with the ship listing to one side, he tripped and fell into a life

alan pizzey reports a new danger in the search for victims of the italian cruise ship disaster.artman on the road with a refreshing politician, one with absolutely no political aspirations. >> we're here to talk about your political career. >> oh. >> reporter: you don't seem too excited about that. >> no. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. we are hours away from the first primary there the south, south carolina, and it's turning out to be a more critical battle for the g.o.p. nomination than anyone might have imagined. have a look at what just happened. in the latest preprimary poll ou

alan pizzey will tell us more about crews which -- there were crews that blew up part of the wrecked ship this morning to search for missing passengers. we are learning more about what the captain did or did not do. we'll bring you those breaking details this morning. plus, newt gingrich is with us. we'll ask him about his controversial comments last night about the poor at the gop debate and marg helgenberger from csi will be here in studio 57. she is preparing to say good- bye to that show. it's her choice. why did she make the choice after 12 years? we'll ask her that and a few other things. join us at 7:00 on "cbs this morning." i don't know where she stands on the 9ers giants. >> 9ers all the way. come on. we're loving the show. thanks, erica. i'm sorry we do not root for the giants. >> i still love you. >> okay. it's a love fest here. have a great show "cbs this morning" starting at 7:00. >>> back to a developing story out in the east bay now, a martinez family is homeless after an early-morning fire. you can see the flames and the smoke reported just after 4:00 this morning. c

alan pizzey is outside the base. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, charlie. know about her health that caused the united states to go in when it did because tom done know lan told us last night that it was her health that caused them to move when they did? >> reporter: well, we understand, charlie, that she may have had something of a kidney problem. they're not giving any details about her health other than to say she may have had a medical problem. also, the timing was geared to what the navy s.e.a.l.s wanted. it was a clear night with a new moon. that's good for them for night vision fighting, bad for the enemy because they can't see very well. a combination of factors. her health was one of them and we think it was a kidney problem. >> are they worried, the united states forces and people there, that there might be some kind of retaliation because of this raid? >> reporter: well, there is a lot of debate over that, charlie. the armed rescue of hostages does put the wind up, if you will, of the kidnappers. there is another american held, journalist, that's