Costa Concordia: two more bodies pulled from ship The 2,400 tonnes of heavy oil and diesel are to be pumped out by a Dutch salvage firm, Smit, which has extensive experience of working on such wrecks. Mr Gabrielli, the head of Italy's respected Civil Protection Authority, said the number of missing could be as high as 24 or 25. They include Americans, French, Italians, a Peruvian and an Indian. Ennio Aquilino, a spokesman for the Italian fire service, said his men faced increasingly unsanitary conditions as they searched the parts of the ship which remain above water. The huge amounts of food that the vessel was carrying - it was at the start of a week-long Mediterranean cruise and had on board more than 4,000 passengers and crew - was rotting and creating a terrible smell. Mr Aquilino likened the situation to going on holiday and turning off a fridge full of food, only on a giant scale.