Another body found from Concordia wreck, death toll now 16

Italian fire brigade divers have found another body in the Costa Concordia cruise, thus taking the total death toll to 16 as crews prepare to pump out more than 2000 tonnes of fuel from its tanks. The only detail available was that the body was found on the third deck in the area where some of the vessel’s lifeboats were kept. The discovery was made 11 days after the tragedy. The rescue team also released the identity of one of the victims found so far as 30-year-old Maria D’Introno, whose relatives made it alive from the disaster. She said she was too scared to jump into the sea after the order to abandon ship. [caption id=“attachment_192895” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Firefighters work next to the Costa Concordia cruise ship which ran aground off the west coast of Italy at Giglio island. Reuters”] [/caption] Survivors have made their anger on captain Fransesco Schettino plain. He is under house arrest at his home and has been accused of manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning ship. But Schettino’s wife defended him, saying he had become “a scapegoat”. The other worry following the tragedy are the environmental after-effects if oil spills into the pure waters of the Tuscan archipelago, which makes up for Europe’s largest marine sanctuary. The head of Italy’s civil protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, who is overseeing rescue operations, said a thin oil slick measuring some 60,000sqm had been spotted and may have come from the ship. Actions have been taken to prevent any oil spills after hundreds of metres of barriers were placed around the wreck.