Civil Protection Department

Cruise ship crash: crisis unit in Grosseto

The Head of the Civil Protection Department Franco Gabrielli took part today, 17 Januar, with the Prefect of Grosseto, to a meeting of the crisis Unit at the civil protection premises of the Province in order to discuss the Concordia cruise ship crash in front of the Island of Giglio.

The meeting was attended by the President of Grosseto Province, the Directore of the civil protection of Tuscany Region, Mayors of the Island of Giglio and Monte Argentario, representatives of operating structures and the president of Costa Crociere, Pierluigi Foschi.

The meeting aimed at assessing search and rescue activities, that are still going on despite difficulties due to the safety conditions of the ship and the high risk of an environmental disaster.

The Head of Department Franco Gabrielli – who after the meeting travelled to the Island of Giglio for a quick survey and a visit at the rescue coordination centre – underlined that the priority is to search for missing people and focus any possible effort on this activity, without forgetting safety for rescuers. Along with this activity, the Costa Crociere company and the Port authority are studying how to recover the ship that is currently capsized. The declaration of the state of emergency by the Council of Ministers will provide the necessary continuity to the ongoing operations The Head of Department has finally praised the inhabitants of the Island of Giglio for their generosity during such a difficult situation and thanked the local civil protection structures which, by demonstrating intelligence and institutional sensitivity, managed to create a system.

Rescue. For the time being there are 11 victims, 1 of which are being identified and 5 being recovered. There are 28 missing people, 4 belonging to the crew. Reconnaissance of missing people on Concordia ship has been conducted by a technical group established at the Prefecture. In detail, the group matched the list of 4,232 people aboard - mainly foreign people sometimes without an ID – elaborated at the reception centre of the Port of Santo Stefano, with data arriving from hospitals, embassies, consulates and lists of people in the various reception strucuters. Information of people transferred via helicopter from the Island of Giglio to Grosseto without stopping in the reception centre of Port Santo Stefano were verified as well, besides the latest indications arrived yesterday, 16 January, from the German consulate authorities.

Latest update h. 9.45 p.m. of 17 January 2012