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French ship survivors seek compensation

PARIS, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- French survivors from the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster off the Italian coast say they want $14,455 each in compensation or they'll sue the cruise line.

Attorneys representing a subset of the 462 French passengers who escaped when the ship crashed into rocks and flipped onto its side Jan. 13 have served formal notice to parent company Costa Cruise threatening legal action if their demand is not met by 5 p.m. Monday.

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The group's attorney, Bertrand Courtois, said Costa Cruise has offered $1,445 to uninjured victims. The company will make another offer to those who were injured, Radio France International reported Thursday.

Seventeen people, including four French passengers, were killed. Two people from France are among the 15 people who remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead.

The ship carried 4,200 passengers and crew.

A senior Italian official said the Costa Concordia will be re-floated and hauled away whole instead of being cut for scrap.

Its captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest at his home near Naples and faces charges of abandoning ship and multiple counts of manslaughter. He has denied the allegations.

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