The body of a German tourist was found in the airshaft of a Tirrenia-owned ropax one months after her disappearance as her husband accuses the ferry owner of doing little to find his wife.
Imelda Bechstein was laying on a sunbed on the 3,000-passenger Sharden (built 2005) alongside her husband Ernst, while the ship was en route from Sardinia to Genoa.
Ernst reported that he woke to find his wife missing, according to the Mirror. A search was conducted on the ship, but Imelda was not found and she was thought to have fallen off the ship.
Her body was discovered in November in a crew's maintenance shaft. Mr. Bechstein is holding the ferry's captain and crew responsible for not conducting a thorough enough search at the time of the disappearance. He also says the crew could have done more to prevent access to the maintenance shaft.
Italian prosecutors are holding the passenger's body pending an investigation.
The ship is classed by Registro Italiano Navale. Equasis lists Standard P&I Club as the ship's protection and indemnity provider
This article has been edited since publication to reflect the correct date of the body's discovery, which was 16 November.
