More human remains have been found at the site of the Costa Concordia wreckage, one week after divers reported they'd discovered remnants of two people who died from the crash and were never found.
According to Italian civil protection agency chief Franco Gabrielli, who spoke with the BBC on Wednesday, the remains have been sent to labs for DNA testing.
"Other remains have also been found and are currently undergoing DNA tests," Gabrielli said. "We are waiting for the results of the analysis."
The Costa Concordia cruise liner crashed into a reef near Giglio Island off the Italian coast last year, resulting in the deaths of 32 passengers and the body of a cruise liner beached by the Tuscan shore for more than 12 months. A team of more than 500 engineers used a method called parbuckling to hoist the ship upright and out of the water. On Sept. 17, they managed to detach 115,000 tons of steel from the reef - it was the first time a ship of that size was straightened out of the water.
An Italian passenger on board the ship named Maria Grazia Trecarichi, along with a waiter named Russel Rebello, were reported missing after the crash, but were never found. They were both presumed dead. Gabrielli told the BBC last Thursday that the initial remains found were "absolutely consistent" with the two people still unaccounted for. He added that locating these remains after a 20-month period - when some of the steel on the ship was eroded by water and wildlife - was "almost a miracle."
The families of the two missing people have been alerted of the discovery of remains.
Captain of the ship Francesco Schettino is on trial for reportedly causing the shipwreck and eventually abandoning the vessel. He maintains that he wasn't at fault for the accident.
