VENICE, Italy, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Officials say they are considering banning large ships from passing through parts of Venice's lagoon after the capsizing of the Costa Concordia cruise liner.
"This is one of the hypotheses we're working on," Environmental Minister Corrado Clini said Friday. "In the meantime we should take precautionary measures to progressively reduce risk."
The Venice Port Authority opposes measures to curb cruise traffic in the area because the cruise industry employs thousands in the region, ANSA reported Friday. Port authority officials also say the area is impervious to the sort of disaster that took place near the island of Giglio on Jan. 13 when the Costa Concordia ran ashore, leaving 32 people dead or missing, the Italian news agency said.
There was an incident with a German cruise liner that ran aground in Venice in May 2004, La Nuova Venezia reported.
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