Authorities Call Off Search for Missing in Costa Concordia Disaster

Posted in Maritime Lawsuits,World Maritime News on February 1, 2012

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Italian authorities yesterday officially called off search operations for missing people in the submerged portions of the stricken Costa Concordia due to conditions that are just to dangerous and complex for divers to continue.

Studies conducted of ships’ deformed hull created too many safety concerns to continue the search within it, said Italy’s Civil Protection Agency in a statement. A spokeswoman for the agency, Francesca Maffini, told the Associate Press that a search for the missing would continue wherever possible, including the parts of the ship above water, and the waters surrounding the ship and along the Giglio coastline.

A total of 17 bodies have been recovered since the January 13 wreck off the coast of Giglio.  15 people remain missing including an American couple from Minnesota.

Meanwhile, the operator of the Costa Concordia, Costa Crociere, and its parent company, Carnival Cruises, has offered survivors approximately $14,460 each plus travel and medical expenses as compensation.  So far at least two lawsuits have been filed already in the U.S.–one class action suit filed by a Peruvian crewmember on Jan. 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the other a claim by 6 passengers filed Jan. 27 in the 11th Circuit in Miami.