Newly identified Costa Concordia victim gave up his place on lifeboat for a child

Article content

ROME — Officials investigating the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise liner on Tuesday identified the bodies of five people including an Italian drummer who gave up his place on a lifeboat to a child.

Thirty-year-old Giuseppe Girolamo who played in a band on the vessel was last seen on the ship’s bridge as it keeled over on the night of January 13.

[np-related]

Witnesses were quoted by Italian media as saying they saw the long-haired rocker, who started working on the ship in October, give up his place for a boy.

The four other bodies identified were of German nationals Christina and Norbert Ganz and U.S. couple Barbara and Gerald Heil from the state of Minnesota whose children Sara and John had travelled to Italy after the disaster.

The five corpses were recovered last month, officials said in a statement.

A total of 32 people are believed to have died when the ship crashed into rocks off the Italian island of Giglio, with two people — an Italian passenger and Indian crew member — still unaccounted for, according to officials.

Of the 30 victims now identified, 12 are German, six French, six Italian, two Peruvian, two American, one Hungarian and one from Spain.

The Costa Concordia, which had 4,229 people on board, ran aground and keeled over, prompting a panicked evacuation after a long wait.

Nine people are under investigation for manslaughter, including captain Francesco Schettino, who is also accused of abandoning ship before everyone on board could be evacuated.

Three of those being investigated are executives from the ship’s company, Costa Crociere, Europe’s biggest cruise operator.

Agence France-Presse

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.