Costa Concordia Search Hampered by Unregistered Passengers, Body Found May Be One

The tragic sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship last week has brought with it the revelation of many fantastical safety oversights, seemingly a combination of screw-ups so vast that untangling the chain of events leading up to the deadly incident has been a massive undertaking.

The investigation has revealed many troubling things, including what is believed to be a foray into unapproved waters, the actions of the ship’s captain Francesco Schettino before, during and after the sinking and the handling of the aftermath by the cruise ship’s company. Survivors of the incident at sea initially reported a failure of the crew to adequately perform disaster drills as well, leaving many of the passengers confused as to how to exit the vessel, should an accident occur.

As news broke that another body, that of a woman whose name has not been released, was recovered near the wreck, Italian officials admitted that recovery efforts- which have been complex- may be complicated by the presence of unregistered passengers on the ship, people who may have been invited aboard or otherwise present but did not appear on ship rosters. It has been suggested that the woman whose body was located near the wreck has not been easy to identify due to nearly a week in the water, and that she may have been one of the “clandestine” passengers aboard the ill-fated ship.

Franco Gabrielli, head of the Civil Protection Authority, confirmed that there may “have been X persons who we don’t know about who were inside, who were clandestine passengers aboard the ship.” The family of a woman from Hungary have asserted that their daughter was aboard the Costa Concordia at the time of the tragedy and the she has not been heard from since, but her name does not appear on official passenger lists.