Italian woman sues Costa Concordia owner over miscarriage after cruise ship disaster

Baltimore Star (ANI) Monday 6th February, 2012

An Italian woman has sued the owner of Costa Concordia for a million Euros in damages and compensation, claiming the terror and trauma of being involved in the Italian cruise ship disaster caused her to have a miscarriage.

The 30-year-old woman from Milan, identified only as Cristina M, was five months pregnant when she boarded the luxury liner on January 13 for a week-long Mediterranean cruise.

She and her 40-year-old husband were forced to make a hazardous night-time evacuation of the ship when it ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

The woman is convinced that she lost her baby as a direct result of the stress and fear she underwent that night.

She and husband have joined in a class action suit against Costa Cruises, the Genoa-based owners of the ship, to demand a million Euros in compensation for the "material, biological and moral injury" they endured, The Telegraph reports.

Till now, 17 people have been confirmed dead, although the death toll is expected to rise to 32, because another 15 people are still missing.

According to the report, a number of French tourists have filed legal complaints with the French courts, while in Germany a group of 19 passengers has filed criminal charges against Capt Francesco Schettino.

Schettino, apparently took the vessel perilously close to Giglio because he wanted to 'salute' an old colleague on the island.

He is currently under house arrest and is facing charges of causing a shipwreck, abandoning ship and multiple counts of manslaughter after crashing his 1,000ft vessel into a rocky Island. (ANI)