A Russian passenger from the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which sank off the Italian coast last weekend, attacked a representative of the company that arranged the ill-fated trip, inflicting a light injury, a local newspaper reported.
The assault took place in the lobby of the Hilton hotel in the Fiumicino Airport in central Italy, where the Russian passengers from the vessel are housed, Il Messagero said Tuesday.
The unidentified passenger reported his son as missing in the Friday shipwreck and apparently snapped because he believed the Costa Cruises (Costa Crociere) representative was too slow in reacting to his report, the newspaper said.
The attacker was stopped by police and hotel security and the company employee was shipped off to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a minor shoulder injury.
No information was available on the whereabouts of his son. Il Messagero did not report whether the assailant faced any legal sanction over the incident.
Italian officials said on Tuesday that 29 of some 4,200 on board the Costa Concordia were missing, but listed no Russians among them.
Costa Concordia had 108 Russian passengers and at least three Russian nationals among its crew of some 1,000.
