Divers searching the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia have located eight bodies and were yesterday able to recover four of them, including a five-year-old girl. Weather conditions worsened before the other bodies could be removed.
The death toll, including those still counted as missing, is 32.
Work is progressing to remove the remaining fuel from the vessel, which ran aground off the coast of the Italian island of Giglio, on January 13. Bids for the salvage operation have been put out to tender and it is still hoped the wreckage can be re-floated and towed away for dismantling, rather than having to be cut up in situ.
►An opinion poll conducted for Travel Trade Gazette discovered that 28 per cent of people who have never been on a cruise holiday are now less likely to choose one, as a result of the Concordia tragedy. Five per cent of those questioned said they were now more likely to take a cruise.
Sinking is not the greatest concern of those planning a holiday at sea, however; 50 per cent said they were concerned about the possibility of food poisoning (which I surmise also includes the risk of gastro-intestinal illness) and 41 per cent are worried about seasickness.
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