Minn. family meets with cruise ship rescue team

Cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground
The cruise ship Costa Concordia lies stricken off the shore of the island of Giglio, on January 14, 2012 in Giglio Porto, Italy. More than four thousand people were on board when the ship hit a sandbank.
Getty Images/Laura Lezza

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Family members of a Minnesota couple still missing after last week's cruise ship wreck say they've been meeting in Italy with rescue workers.

In an email statement sent Saturday night to news organizations, relatives of Jerry and Barbara Heil say the captain in charge of the operation indicated he wasn't ready to give up hope that the missing can be found.

The family members say they and family members of others missing from the Costa Concordia accident were taken out near the ship and allowed to place flowers in the water honoring their loved ones. They say the workers stopped what they were doing and saluted during the tribute.

The Heil family says it's grateful for the efforts from the workers trying to find the missing.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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