Costa Concordia Probe Expands to Costa Crociere

(Bloomberg) — Carnival Corp.’s Costa Crociere unit is under probe for “possible violations” of the Italian administrative responsibility law in the Costa Concordia shipwreck probe, the company said in a statement.

Costa is “confident it will be able to demonstrate its full compliance with the law and states its full trust” in magistrates, it said yesterday.

The Costa Concordia ran aground near the island of Giglio hours after leaving a port close to Rome with 4,200 passengers and crew on Jan. 13, 2012, leaving 32 people dead. Captain Francesco Schettino is under investigation for allegedly causing the shipwreck and may face charges of manslaughter and abandoning the ship before the evacuation was completed. He denies any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors in Grosseto, Italy on Feb. 22 widened their probe to include seven employees of Costa Crociere, which has said it’s “absolutely certain” its staff acted correctly.

Italian consumer group Codacons said on its website that Costa Crociere risks a “super-fine” over the incident.