GIGLIO, Italy (AP) - Italian emergency officials say they are calling off a search for missing people in the submerged part of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, due to the danger to rescue workers.
Italy's Civil Protection agency said Tuesday that technical studies indicated that the deformed hull of the ship created too many safety concerns to continue the search.
It said in a statement that relatives and diplomatic officials representing the countries of the missing have been informed of the decision.
The Concordia ran aground off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13 when the captain deviated from his planned route and struck a reef, creating a huge gash that capsized the ship.
Seventeen bodies have been recovered, of which one has not yet been identified. Sixteen people are listed as missing.
Last week, investigators were expected to interview a key witness: a woman who had been seen with the captain of the ship the night of the wreck.
The female ship crew member in question, a 25-year-old Moldovan, was reportedly at dinner with the captain and then at the bridge of the ship just at the time of the collision – but some sources say she could have been a distraction on the bridge before the grounding.
Any contact she had with the captain around the time of the Friday, Jan. 13 crash would be critical to charting a timeline of what Schetto did before and after the crash, which has left 16 people missing, sources say.
The woman, Domnica Cemortan, was scheduled to be interviewed on Friday by Italian prosecutors, the Telegraph of London reported.
The Daily Mail said that she could provide key details about what happened leading up to the crash. In an interview she gave on Moldovan TV, she admitted she dined with the captain and that she then went to the bridge after the crash to help with Russian translations.
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