Costa Concordia victims raise new legal proceedings against holiday firm

A new batch of compensational legal proceedings has been launched against Spanish travel company Costa Cruises following the tragic accident that caused the sinking of the ship and the death of 32 people last January.

The holiday company initially offered victims of the accident 30% off future travel with the company; but when that was denied, and branded “insulting” by the claimants, the offer was extended to £8900. This option was taken by several of the victims. However, others have again declined with the figure described by the claimants and their legal teams as “peanuts”.

Several of the British victims, including Rose Metcalf, a 23-year-old Wimborne based dancer and Amelia Leon from South London, now suffer from flashbacks, nightmares and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Miss Leon spoke out after the events took place, saying: “Luckily me and my ex-boyfriend escaped in a lifeboat but others weren’t so lucky. I remember seeing mothers throwing their babies on to lifeboats and just complete panic and confusion. No one knew what was happening.”

These are the first reports of Britons taking such strong legal action since the accident took place twelve months ago, but Costa Cruises have been entangled in legal affairs since last February when several American passengers dived into legal action.

Amandeep Dhillon, a lawyer for the firm Irwin Mitchell – who are representing a large number of clients from several countries throughout these proceedings – spoke out about the incident.

He said: “We believe that the initial impact could have been avoided and that this was compounded by the failure of the crew, the captain, and the carrier to exercise proper evacuation processes. Had they been carried out lives may have been saved.”

The firm is now in correspondence with Costa Cruises to negotiate fair and just compensation for the victims.

Captain Schettino, the man who has been labelled as responsible for the cruise liner’s sinking, is now facing a potential 20-year prison sentence based on charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship; all charges that he has denied.

The cruise liner began to sink after it ran aground amongst a group of submerged rocks, causing the panic and devastation that took hold of over 4000 people.

Ali Kirby