GIGLIO, Italy (MCT) — It would take a “miracle” to find survivors 12 days after the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia, the Italian official leading rescue operations said Wednesday.
On Tuesday the death toll from the Jan. 13 accident — which happened after the ship ran aground after coming too close to the island of Giglio — rose to 16 when divers found the body of a woman in the half-sunken vessel’s third bridge.
Around 20 people remain unaccounted for.
The latest search efforts were being hindered by health risks posed to divers from rotting, organic refuse and waste aboard the half-sunken vessel.
