The death toll in the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident rose to 15 over the weekend as searchers found the bodies of two women. Italian officials say both women were found on the fourth deck near the Internet Café. The area is submerged underwater and was reached after rescue teams blasted holes in the side of the vessel. Both women were wearing life vests.
The number of people officially missing now stands at 17, but the official in charge of the search efforts says rescuers are looking for about “24 to 25 people.” That means about 8 people could have been on the ship unregistered, Franco Gabrielli told the media. Gabrielli says dive teams will search each one of the 1,500 cabins on board. Each cabin will take about 45 minutes to search.
Meanwhile, officials say operations to begin pumping the 2,400 tons of fuel out of the Costa Concordia will begin this week. The fuel will be replaced with water to keep the ship balanced on its rocky resting place off the island of Giglio. The salvage operation will not disrupt divers in their search for the missing.
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