Costa Concordia shipwreck survivors gather for hearing

Some are still waiting for identification of the remains of their loved ones six weeks after the disaster.

The giant cruise liner capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio after hitting a rock on 13 January, killing at least 25 people. Seven people are still unaccounted for, and eight of the bodies found have yet to be identified.

Prosecutors have accused captain Francesco Schettino of causing the accident by bringing the Costa Concordia, which was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, too close to the shore.

Eight other officers and executives of the ship’s owner, Costa Cruises, are also under investigation.

“We want to know the truth, what happened, and what we are supposed to do now. That’s all we are asking,” said Hilaire Blemand, a French national whose 25-year- old son Michael was on board the ship with his girlfriend Mylene Litzler, 23. Both are still reported missing.

“It’s been too long already, it’s been six weeks,” he said at the theatre in the Tuscan city of Grosseto that has been turned into a makeshift courtroom.

The theatre is expected to accommodate hundreds of victims’ relatives, survivors and lawyers for all sides.

Fighting back tears, Litzler’s mother Brigitte said her anguish had deepened after identification of the bodies was suspended at the request of the lawyer for one of the ship’s officers under investigation. He argued that forensic experts from the defence team should be part of the process.

“It’s like they have killed them a second time,” Brigitte Litzler said. “We are dead inside already. They have killed our kids so we are dead too. But we won’t give up. We will keep returning until we have them back.”