17th cruise ship victim found

GIGLIO, Italy, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Divers recovered a woman's body from the wrecked Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia Saturday, raising the confirmed death toll to 17, officials said.

The recovery of the body leaves 15 people unaccounted for from the Jan. 13 accident off Giglio Island, the BBC and ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported. The woman's identity was not released.

Meanwhile, bad weather Saturday kept crews from pumping diesel fuel from the liner, which lies on its side off the Tuscany coast.

"We were ready this morning [Saturday] to commence oil pumping in the course of the day," Martijn Schuttevaer, a spokesman for the Dutch salvage company Smit, told reporters.

"Unfortunately the weather had turned in our disadvantage as it deteriorated and therefore towards the end of the morning we had to demobilize our vessel, the Moloria, back from the side of the ship back into the port here."

The salvage company is charged with the task of removing about 2,535 tons of fuel from the ill-fated ship before it leaks into the Mediterranean Sea.

The Costa Concordia was carrying about 4,200 passengers when hit rocks while passing close to the island of Giglio. The ship's owner, Costa Crociere, has offered uninjured passengers about $14,500 each in compensation provided they forgo legal action against the company. Lawyers for six passengers brought a lawsuit in federal court in Miami that seeks $460 million in damages, ANSA said.