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Human remains found at wreckage site of Costa Concordia cruise liner

DNA tests should be taken to identify the human remains

Photo EPA/CLAUDIO GIOVANNINI

Photo EPA/CLAUDIO GIOVANNINI

ROME, September 26 (Itar-Tass) - The fragments of human bodies were found at the wreckage site of the cruise liner Costa Concordia off the Italian island of Giglio, head of the Italian Civil Defence Department Franco Gabrielli said, noting that the DNA tests should be taken to identify the human remains.

The search was resumed after September 17 when the operation to raise the ship and set it on a special underwater platform was successfully completed.

After a few days of rescue divers started diving and explored previously inaccessible areas of the bottom. Today is the first time they were able to get inside the hull.

The remains of Indian stewart Russell Rebello and a tourist from Sicily Maria Grazia Trecarichi were lying under water for 20 months, so it will be possible to identify them only by means of a DNA test.

The Concordia, a 290-metre-long liner carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew capsized and sank with the loss of 32 lives on January 13, 2012 after it struck rocks at Giglio.

ITAR-TASS Infographics

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