17 still missing in Italian cruise ship disaster: official

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy - Agence France-Presse

View of the Costa Concordia on Jan 14, after the cruise ship ran aground and keeled over off the Isola del Giglio. AFP photo

The number of people still missing from the Italian cruise ship disaster has gone down to 17, Tuscan regional president Enrico Rossi said Sunday.
 
"Checks and cross-checks have allowed us to reduce the number of missing people," Rossi told AFP two days after the cruise ship crashed into rocks off of Tuscany's Giglio Island. "At the last meeting I was told that 11 passengers and six crew members remain unaccounted for." Rescuers had previously said 34 or 36 people were still missing from the disaster that claimed three lives and injured around 40.
 
Grosseto governor Giuseppe Linardi said officials compared the ship's manifest against a list compiled at the port of Santo Stefano where rescue operations are based.
 
"There are a lot of foreigners, and it's possible that names were misspelled," he said.
 
Two Japanese survivors turned up in Rome on Sunday, he noted.
 
More than 3,000 holidaymakers were among the 4,229 people aboard the ship.