Search for bodies in capsized cruise liner called off

Italian authorities have ended the search for bodies on the submerged sections of the Costa Concordia, more than two weeks after the giant cruise liner capsized off the Tuscan coast.

A statement from the civil protection authority said conditions on the wreck had made it impossible for divers to continue working safely in the underwater sections of the 290-metre-long ship.

It said the decision had been finalised after the families of the 15 people still unaccounted for had been informed.

A total of 17 bodies have been recovered since the accident on Jan 13 in which the Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, was holed by a rock after its captain steered to within 150 metres of the tiny island of Giglio.

The search will continue in other sections of the ship and in the surrounding waters, where a number of objects have been spotted.

Salvage crews plan to begin pumping more than 2,300 tonnes of diesel from the wreck this week but bad weather has delayed the start of operations expected to take up to a month.