Couple ID’d in Italian cruise wreck

Published 9:09 am Tuesday, April 17, 2012

ROME — Italian officials say they have identified the bodies of an American couple and two German nationals who perished when the Costa Concordia cruise ship capsized.

The Interior Ministry named Barbara and Gerald Heil of Minnesota, the sole American victims of the Jan. 13 disaster, as among the bodies retrieved from the wreck.

The ministry posting also identified Christina Mathi Ganz and Norbert Josef Ganz, of Germany, and an Italian crewman after weeks of DNA testing and other exams.

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Divers are still searching the wreck for a female Italian passenger and an Indian crewman who are missing and presumed dead. The death toll stands at 32.