Italian cruise ship mishap toll rises up to 16

Fire brigade divers found a body inside a stricken Italian cruise ship today, bringing the official death toll to 16 as salvage crews prepared to pump 2,380 tonnes of fuel from its tanks.

Fire brigade divers found a body inside a stricken Italian cruise ship today, bringing the official death toll to 16 as salvage crews prepared to pump 2,380 tonnes of fuel from its tanks.

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The body was found on the third deck where some of the 114,500-tonne vessel’s lifeboats were located, with rescuers declining to give further details.

Emergency workers had pulled the bodies of two women from the wreck on Monday, saying that they were found near the luxury liner’s Internet cafe.

The Costa Concordia went down on January 13 with 4,229 people on board. It emerged on Tuesday that Italian prosecutors were looking into the cruise ship operator’s possible role in the wreck and reports of a chaotic evacuation.