Costa Concordia Death Toll Rises to 16 as Body Found on Deck

Recovery crews have located another body in the wreckage of the ill-fated Costa Concordia, bringing the official death toll to 16 in the tragic cruise ship sinking.

Another sixteen people remain missing in the wreck, according to civil protection officials, though that figure has also been disputed as some report possible unregistered and unaccounted for individuals who may be among the missing Costa Concordia passengers. Officials managing the rescue and recovery effort describe an unpleasant scene, with not only the presence of bodies in the water and in the wreckage, but also rotting food and other debris. CNN quoted the man in charge of recovery on the “gruesome” work:

The man in charge of the rescue operation said the divers faced a grim task.

“Imagine that you left for holidays and that the power went off in your house. What would you find in your fridge? The divers are in there,” Ennio Aquilino said.

Two bodies were found over the weekend, and two on Monday, both still wearing lifejackets donned during the chaotic attempt at evacuating the doomed vessel. Another area in which passengers on the Costa Concordia are moving forward is in court, and American and Italian firms are starting up class action lawsuits against the company that owned and operated the cruise ship. One of two firms collaborating on legal action commented:

“We’ve been contacted by hundreds of victims and the numbers are growing moment by moment,” said Mitchell Proner, senior partner at Proner & Proner, one of two firms involved. He said crew members have also contacted the firm, “and their stories that are coming in are horrific — from lifeboats that were stuck halfway, passengers debating whether to jump or not. This was not an orderly evacuation.”

Proner said the suit will request $160,000 per passenger on the ship.