Authorities also released the names of 23 people unaccounted for, including the six bodies awaiting identification, AP said. Of passengers, those include 12 Germans, four Italians, two Americans and two French. Of crew, the list includes one Italian, one Indian and one Peruvian.
Meanwhile, Costa Crociere on Monday denied there were ‘clandestine’ people on board the ship along with reports that an employee allegedly received the personal computer belonging to Capt. Francesco Schettino.
Costa strongly rebuffed media reports that there may have been undocumented passengers or crew on Costa Concordia when it capsized Jan. 13.
When the body of a woman was recovered from the wreck on Sunday, media outlets including the BBC cited Civil Protection Agency chief Franco Gabrielli as stating the body may have been that of a Hungarian reported missing but not on the ship’s manifest. Gabrielli allegedly said there could have been more ‘illegals’—undocumented people—on board.
On Monday the BBC backed away from that report, citing information the Hungarian foreign ministry provided to Italian authorities.
Meanwhile, Costa in a statement outlined its strict access control systems that require a ticket and an identity check for passengers, an optically read identification card for crew members and, for any visitors, pre-approval on a verified list and the presentation of a valid identity document that is retained on embarkation.
The company said the name of any person who sails is registered in on-board systems. Plus, at embarkation a photograph is taken of each passenger which is then associated with a bar code on the embarkation form and the Costa card each passenger is issued as a personal identification badge when entering and leaving the ship and using on-board services.
Lists of anyone who embarked the ship and who departed with it—passengers, crew and any workers such as repair people—are transmitted to the company immediately after departure, Costa added.
The company said it provided Costa Concordia manifests to the authorities for use in identifying the survivors and those missing.
Costa also stated it ‘categorically denies the rumour that there were “clandestine workers” on board.’
And, with reference to the news reported by several media that a company employee allegedly received Schettino’s personal computer, Costa said that person categorically denies receiving anything from the captain.
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