Costa Concordia passengers sue Carnival over dangers

MIAMI — Six passengers of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the coast if Italy two weeks ago, are suing Carnival Cruise Lines, demanding compensation totaling $460 million as authorities found a 17th body in the wrecked liner.

Carnival is the parent company of Costa Cruise Lines, which owns Costa Concordia.

Attorney Marc Bern, who represents the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit had been filed in a Miami, Florida, court on Friday, alleging wanton recklessness on the part of the ship operator.

Authorities in the Italian town said they have found a 17th body in the wrecked Costa Concordia yesterday and released the identity of another victim. Fifteen people remain missing.

Italy’s civil defence organisation said divers were recovering a woman’s body found on deck six in the submerged part of the vessel.

Another woman, whose identity had not previously been released, was German passenger Inge Schall.

The Costa Concordia had 4,229 people aboard including about 1,000 personnel when it ran aground near Giglio, a picturesque island off Tuscany that is part of a nature reserve known to swimmers and divers for its clear waters.

Since the disaster, several consumer associations have announced their intention to bring a class action against Costa Cruise Lines.

The suit, the first of what could be several such US filings, claims the people on the vessel “did not learn of the dangerous conditions of the cruise ship until it was too late for them to abandon ship in a safe and reasonable manner as to avoid... intentional infliction of emotional distress, injury and/or death.”

The complaint

said

the captain, Francesco Schettino, abandoned ship during the disaster, which has left at least 16 dead and another 16 still missing two weeks later.

“Despite knowledge of the obvious damage to the Costa Concordia on January 13, 2012, the defendants failed to properly and timely notify all plaintiffs on board of the deadly and dangerous condition of the cruise ship as to avoid injury and death,” said the complaint.

On Friday, negotiators announced in Italy that some 3,000 survivors of the ship wreck will receive 11,000 euros ($14,400) each plus expenses as compensation.

Bern said the suit had been filed despite the cruise line’s offer to compensate passengers who have returned home — and predicted more legal action in the future.

“Over the next two weeks there will be more lawsuits filed in Miami,” he said.