More than three months after the cruise ship Costa Concordia sank off the coast of Italy, the two missing American passengers have been confirmed dead after their bodies were identified several weeks after they were found.

Barbara and Gerald Heil of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, were the only two U.S. victims to die in the accident that occurred on January 13, and on Tuesday their family confirmed their passing in an online statement, reported local paper the Hastings Star Gazette.

Salvage workers scouring the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that is lying stricken off the coast of Italy found eight more bodies on Wednesday.

The latest grisly discoveries bring the total number of confirmed dead from the January 13 disaster to 25, reported the Chicago Tribune, and included the bodies of a woman and a five-year-old girl. Seven people out of the more than 4,200 who boarded the ship remain unaccounted for.

After 18 days of desperate searching for survivors of the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster, Italian officials have been forced to pull out because of the risk to rescue workers.

Italy's Civil Protection agency made the announcement on Tuesday due to the unstable positioning of the ship’s massive hull creating too many safety concerns to continue, reported USAToday.com.

According to the statement, relatives and diplomatic officials representing the countries of the missing have been informed of the difficult decision.

After insulting survivors of the cruise ship disaster by offering them 30 percent off future trips, Costa Cruises has now agreed to pay each passenger $14,460 as compensation for psychological trauma and lost baggage.

Still many passengers who had to desperately jump to safety onto lifeboats after the $450 million cruise liner crashed into a reef off the coast of Tuscany on January 13 think that it is not enough because they can't yet put a figure on the cost of the trauma they endured.

The offer was negotiated by a consumer group working with 3,206 passengers from 61 countries, none of whom were injured in the accident, reported the Huffington Post.

Disturbing new audio has emerged from Italy revealing that the captain of the doomed cruise ship radioed the port insisting the Costa Concordia had simply had a blackout, a full 30 minutes after the vessel had crashed into a rocky reef.

An unidentified crew member -- who the AP has named as captain, Francesco Schettino -- can be heard radioing to Livorno port officials at 10:12 p.m. on Friday night, telling staff that he was checking out reasons for the blackout.

What he doesn't reveal is that the massive vessel -- which was carrying 4,200 passengers, including 120 Americans -- had already capsized on its side, reported the Washington Times.