ROME -The body of a woman wearing a life vest was recovered by Italian coast guard divers Saturday from a narrow underwater corridor of the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia, raising the death toll to 12 in the week-old accident that has sent some light fuel spilling into the Mediterranean Sea off Tuscany.
Coast Guard Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro said the victim was found during a particularly risky inspection of an evacuation staging point near the ship's stern. To permit the coast guard divers to get into the area, navy divers had preceded them, setting off charges to blast holes for easier entrance and exit on the stern, where a number of bodies already had been found, he said.
The woman's identity was not immediately announced. After so long in the cold waters, it is unlikely that any of the more than 20 people still unaccounted for have survived.
"Our aim is to find the missing, to give certainty about the fate of these people, but it is also a priority to avert an environmental disaster," said Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Agency, who on Friday was put in charge of coordinating the response to the Concordia's capsizing.
He said that, given the difficult conditions aboard -- corridors and rooms filled with floating objects, walls where floors should be -- exploring just one cabin took about 45 minutes. The requirement of the search operations -- a stable ship and plenty of time -- conflict with the urgency and methods of removing the fuel. Experts say safeguarding the fuel, which is at risk of fouling the pristine Tuscan waters, will take at least four weeks -- an operation that has not yet begun. Worsening weather and sea conditions in the next few days worry the workers the most.
On Saturday, light fuel -- apparently diesel from machinery aboard the capsized Costa Concordia -- was detected near the ship. But Nicastro said there was no indication that any of the nearly 500,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil has leaked from the ship's tanks.
The Concordia, with more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground on Jan. 13. The ship's owner said the captain, Francesco Schettino, 51, deviated from the approved course to sail close to Giglio, a Tuscan island, to impress passengers aboard. Schettino is under house arrest for investigation of alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all were evacuated. He insists he helped coordinate the evacuation.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
