Cruise ship victims mull US$14,460 compensation

Italian ship operator Costa Crociere SpA on Friday put the figure at 11,000 euros (US$14,460) plus reimbursement for the cost of cruise tickets and extra travel expenses, seeking to cut a deal with as many passengers as possible to take the wind out of class-action lawsuits stemming from the Jan. 13 grounding of its Costa Concordia cruise liner off Tuscany.

But many passengers are refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. And lawyers are backing them up, telling passengers it's far too soon to know how people's lives and livelihoods might be affected by the experience.

“We're very worried about the children,” said Claudia Urru of Cagliari, Sardinia, who was on the Concordia with her husband and two sons, aged three and 12, when it capsized.

Her elder son is seeing a psychiatrist: He won't speak about the incident or even look at television footage of the grounding.

“He's terrorized at night,” she told The Associated Press. “He can't go to the bathroom alone. We're all sleeping together, except my husband, who has gone into another room because we don't all fit.”

As a result, she said, her family retained a lawyer because they don't know what the real impact — financial or otherwise — of the trauma will be. She said her family simply isn't able to make such decisions now.

“We are having a very, very hard time,” she said.

Costa's offer, which covers compensation for lost baggage and psychological trauma, was the result of negotiations with several consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive cruise ship hit a reef off the island of Giglio.

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