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Costa Offers Italian Cruise Passengers $14K In Compensation

A coast guard boat passes the Costa Concordia, as the cruise liner lies aground in front of the harbor of Giglio Island.
AP
A coast guard boat passes the Costa Concordia, as the cruise liner lies aground in front of the harbor of Giglio Island.

Costa Crociere SpA came to an agreement with several consumer groups and is offering 11,000 euros or $14,460 to each of the passengers of the cruise ship that ran aground off the Italian coast, earlier this month.

The Toronto Sun explains the money is for passengers who were uninjured and is to pay for "for items lost and any psychological damages." The cruise line will also refund the cost of the cruise and any travel costs that resulted from the crash.

The AP reports:

"The agreement was announced Friday after negotiations between Costa representatives and Italian consumer groups who say they represent 3,206 cruise ship passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the Costa Concordia hit a reef on Jan. 13.

...

"Passengers are free to pursue legal action on their own if they aren't satisfied with the deal. Some consumer groups have already signed on as injured parties in the criminal case against the Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino, who is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all passengers were evacuated. He is under house arrest."

CNN reports that Costa will handle compensation with the families of the 16 dead individually.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.