Costa Cruises offers compensation to rescued passengers

By Steve Scherer

ROME (Reuters) - Costa Cruises has offered 11,000 euros ($14,500) in compensation to each of the more than 3,000 passengers aboard its liner that ran aground and capsized two weeks ago, Italian consumer groups said on Friday.

The offer is an attempt by Costa Cruises to limit the legal fallout of the accident off the coast of Italy.

Each passenger on the Costa Concordia will also receive a refund on the cruise and the costs of their return home. The offer applies to all passengers, whether child or adult, who suffered no physical injuries.

Injured passengers will be dealt with individually.

Sixteen bodies have been recovered after the 290-metre long cruise liner, with more than 4,200 passengers and crew on board, struck a rock near the Tuscan island of Giglio.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest and is blamed for causing the accident by steering too close to the island's shore.

Costa Cruises' U.S. parent company Carnival Plc is already facing legal action for compensation. Those accepting Friday's offer will have to agree to drop all future litigation, and receive payment within seven days.

Codacons, a consumer group which did not participate in the negotiations, is collecting names for a class action suit to be filed in Miami requesting 125,000 euros for each passenger.