Costa Concordia: Eight more bodies found in wreckage

GlobalPost

Divers today located a total of eight more bodies on a passenger deck of the wrecked cruise liner Costa Concordia, according to The Associated Press.

However, due to worsening weather conditions, only three of the bodies, including that of Dayana Arlotti, a missing five-year-old girl, a woman and a man, could be retrieved, the news agency said, adding that the identification process for the two adults would take days.

Italy’s civil protection agency, which the government has tasked with managing the environmentally dangerous removal of the wrecked ship, said in a statement that the bodies had been located on Deck 4, in the submerged part of the wreck, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

According to the AP, family members said Dayana's father, Williams, was traveling to celebrate after overcoming health problems after transplants of his kidney and pancreas. Witnesses told reporters they had last seen Williams heading back to his cabin to retrieve medication during the evacuation.

More from GlobalPost: Italy, bravado and the Costa Concordia

Officials say 32 people were killed when the Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew, struck rocks and keeled over onto its side as it carried out a traditional salute to islanders on Giglio, off the coast of Tuscany, on January 13.

However only 17 bodies had been retrieved before today’s announcement. The boat’s evacuation was not ordered until about an hour after it capsized, and its captain, Francesco Schettino, remains under house arrest in his home near Naples while he is investigated for alleged manslaughter and abandoning his ship before all aboard were evacuated, according to Sky News.

Salvage workers began pumping to remove more than 2,300 tonnes of fuel from the wreck’s tanks earlier this month. 

More from GlobalPost: Italy shipwreck captain Francesco Schettino must remain under house arrest, says court

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