Cause of disaster still to be established

Dubai Authorities are still t r ying to establish t he cause the disaster which saw Costa Concordia run aground off the island of Giglio late on Friday.

Tim Marking, the European Cruise Council (ECC) secretary-general, said in a statement that while all of focus is rightly on the incident “there will, of course, be a full and thorough investigation into the causes of this event”.

“The full cooperation of both the company and the wider industry is assured,” he said.

The Brussels-based ECC re presents t he l eading cruise companies in Europe with 30 members and 34 associates.

High safety standards

It said in a statement that all members operate to the “highest safety standards” around the world and “according to i nternational maritime requirements”.

“During t he past two decades, cruise lines have maintained the best safety record i n the travel i ndustry while transporting more than 90 million people throughout the world,” the statement said.

Gianni Onorato, president of Costa Crociere, said in a statement: “We are not at this time able to provide an answer to all the questions, because the competent authorities are trying with our cooperative efforts to understand the reasons for this incident,” adding that the rescue operations have been “further strengthened”.

“From the first time the company mobilised all its resources ashore to put in to assist our guests and crew members and prevent possible environmental impacts.”