Govt to bring home Indonesian survivors in cruise liner accident

The Indonesian government, through its embassy in Italy, is working to bring home around 170 Indonesians who survived the fatal accident aboard the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia which ran aground off Italy's west coast on Saturday.

“The Indonesian embassy is communicating with the cruise ship company to send them [the Indonesian crew members] home,” the ministry's spokesman Michael Tene said Monday as quoted by tempo.co.

Tene said that the embassy also lobbied the company to fulfill the rights of the Indonesian crew members.

According to Tene, the Indonesian embassy in Italy has deployed its representatives to verify the identities of Indonesian nationals on board the ill-fated ship not long after receiving reports of the accident.

The embassy also provided the Indonesians with food and clothing and helped arrange travel documents for the survivors.

At least three people have been confirmed dead, with another 70 passengers injured in the accident. As of Sunday, rescue workers were still searching for nearly 40 people reported missing.