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Reuters

A corpse found in the wreck of the Costa Concordia is thought to be that of the last person unaccounted for almost three years after the luxury liner sank.
Russel Rebello, an Indian who worked as a waiter on the ship when it hit rocks and sank off Giglio in Tuscany in January 2012, killing 32 people, had been the only person missing after the disaster whose body had not yet been found.
Workers for Ship Recycling, the company dismantling the cruise ship, discovered the remains underneath furniture in a cabin on the eighth deck.
The Repubblica daily said the cabin was in a part of the ship crushed against the sea floor.
Scraps of the waiter's uniform were found intact despite being underwater for so long, it said.
The remains were being turned over to Italian authorities for identification.
A coast guard spokeswoman in the northern port city of Genoa, where the 290-metre-long hulk was towed for scrap in July, said a body found on the ship was "assumed to be the last victim, Russel Rebello".
In August, authorities announced they had found remains on the ship and would test them to see if they belonged to Rebello.
Italian media later reported that those remains were determined to be lamb bones.
For Genoa, the contract to dismantle the ship is a boost in a period of economic crisis, creating hundreds of jobs in the city for a period of 22 months.
The entire salvage operation is expected to cost €1.5 billion (HK$15.6 billion).
More than 80 per cent of the ship is expected to be recycled or reused, including 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes of steel that will be melted down while undamaged copper wiring, plumbing, plastics, machinery and furniture will be sold.
Personal belongings recovered on the lower decks will be returned to owners while items such as the piano, which was playing when the liner hit the rocks, may end up in a museum.
The sinking of the 114,000-tonne Concordia, a floating hotel as long as three football pitches laid end-to-end, prompted a chaotic night-time evacuation and one of the largest maritime salvage operations in history. There were 4,200 people from 70 countries on board when it sunk.
The ship, which is about twice the size of the Titanic, took on water and listed on its side.
Five Costa employees have reached plea bargains for charges including manslaughter and negligence.
The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is being tried for manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning the ship after allegedly veering on to an unauthorised path too close to land. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Additional reporting by Associated Press, Agence France-Presse


Corpse found in Costa Concordia thought to be the last victim

Kevin Rebello with a picture of his brother, Russel Rebello. Photo: AFP

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Remains of Indian waiter found under furniture almost three years after Costa Concordia sank


A corpse found in the wreck of the Costa Concordia is thought to be that of the last person unaccounted for almost three years after the luxury liner sank.
