Five-year-old girl among four more bodies found on Costa Concordia
Susy Albertini, the mother of five-year-old victim Dayana Arlotti cries as a family member consoles her after visiting the site at Giglio island. Photo: Reuters
More photos:
FOUR more bodies have been found inside the crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship, including that of a five year old girl.
Dayana Arlotti, whose father is also missing, was the youngest person feared to have died in the disaster.
The bodies were found by Italian fire service divers on the fourth deck of the giant ship, which was at the start of a week-long cruise of the Mediterranean when it ran aground on Giglio island, off the coast of Tuscany, on Jan 13.
Efforts to recover the bodies and bring them ashore are under way.
Rescue officials said the difficult conditions inside the 950ft-long luxury liner meant they did not know how long it would take to bring the bodies to the surface.
The number of bodies found, if confirmed, would bring the confirmed death toll to 21, with at least 11 people still missing.
More than 4,200 passengers and crew had to be evacuated when the cruise ship ran aground after hitting a rocky shoal off Giglio as the captain allegedly performed a 'salute' to the island.
Capt Francesco Schettino has been accused of procrastinating for around 76 minutes before giving the order to abandon the ship.
Members of his crew have said that there might not have been any deaths had he ordered the vessel to be evacuated earlier.
The skipper is under house arrest at his home near Naples and faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship.
A Dutch salvage company, Smit, has removed around two-thirds of the 500,000 gallons of fuel contained in the ship's tanks.
