French Costa Concordia passengers demand 11,000 euros compensation each

French passengers on the Costa Concordia cruise ship that sank off Italy last month are demanding 11,000 euros compensation each by Monday evening or they will sue the owners.

Reuters

Lawyers for a group representing some of the 462 French passengers have served formal notice on the Costa Cruise company threatening legal action if their demand is not accepted by 5pm Monday.

Costa Cruise has offered 1,100 euros to victims who escaped unhurt and are to make a separate offer to those who were injured, according to victims’ lawyer Bertrand Courtois.

But, he says, it is not enough, especially as no assessment of damages has been made, and it is subject to a deadline of 14 February that Courtois judges prejudicial to the victims.

A Paris court on Thursday opened an inquiry into the sinking.

It instructed maritime police to “determine the circumstances of the shipwreck and the conditions of evacuation of the ship and the rescue effort”, while also assessing the personal suffering and psychological effects caused by the disaster.

Four French passengers died and two are still missing.

French prosecutors have been instructed to create a dossier of all the victims’ legal complaints filed in France. Their number is not yet known.