EIGHT more bodies were found today on the shipwrecked Costa Concordia after divers expanded their search of the Italian cruise liner's submerged decks while police widened their investigation of those responsible for the disaster.
Today's grim discoveries mean that authorities have now recovered 25 bodies of the 32 believed dead in the January 13 tragedy.
Seven people are still unaccounted-for more than a month after the ship ran aground off Italy's Mediterranean coast with over 4000 on board.
The eight bodies were recovered just hours after scaffolding was set up at the wreck to allow divers to continue searching the decks of the vessel, which remains semi-submerged and lying on its side close to the island of Giglio's rocky shores.
Workers have revealed several hand-drawn plans designed to help divers recover more bodies. The drawings show the water-level inside the cruise ship as well as the disorienting maze divers face as they move through the ship, now laying on its side.
Among the bodies found Wednesday local time was that of five-year-old Dayana Arlotti, an Italian girl who was the youngest passenger, according to Sky Italia's TG24. She was travelling with her father.
Meanwhile, the ship's operator was becoming further implicated in a probe into the disaster.
Three managers of Costa Crociere received formal notifications that they were under investigation along with four officers from the liner, according to AFP.
TG24 reported that the seven officials face charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and failure to notify maritime authorities.
The Italian news channel named the three managers as the company's vice president Ursprunger Manfred, the top emergency officer Roberto Ferrarini and fleet superintendent Paolo Parodi. The four officers were identified as Andrea Bongiovanni, Roberto Bosio, Silvia Coronica and Salvatore Ursino.
They join captain Francesco Schettino, who is under house arrest, and first officer Ciro Ambrosio as suspects in the tragedy. Those two men face charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship before all passengers were evacuated.
The victims found Wednesday were thought to be pulled from deck four of the ship. The head of Italy's civil protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, had said in recent days that experts anticipated all the remaining bodies to be recovered from the fourth deck, where passengers gathered once the decision was made to abandon ship, TG24 reported
The search of underwater deck areas was previously called off January 31 amid bad weather and fears that the cruise liner could slip from the ledge where it came to rest, placing recovery divers in jeopardy. The focus then shifted to the operation to pump the ship's fuel reserves off the vessel, which began February 12
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