Rome: Two cruise companies whose passengers were among the victims of a deadly attack on a Tunis museum on Thursday suspended stopovers in the city.
In a severe blow for Tunisia`s tourist industry, Spain`s MSC Cruises and Italy`s Costa Crociere said none of their boats would berth in the north African country`s capital until further notice.
The boats whose passengers were caught up in the attacks both left Tunis Thursday for the next scheduled stops on their cruises.
Nine passengers on the MSC ship that was in Tunis when the attack occurred on Wednesday were among at least 20 foreign tourists confirmed to have died.
The passengers who lost their lives were three Japanese, two Colombians, two Spaniards and two French nationals.
A further 12 passengers were injured and six had not returned to the MSC Splendida when it left Tunis on Thursday morning, bound for Barcelona.
Thirteen passengers who were on the Costa Fascinosa were unaccounted for when it set off in the early hours for the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Costa said the suspension would affect three of its giant ships which had been due to berth in Tunis in the coming months -- the Costa Fortuna, Costa Favolosa and the Costa neoRiviera.
MSC also had three boats scheduled to dock in Tunis in the near future.
In a statement, Costa said: "The safety of our guests and crew is Costa Crociere`s priority and an essential requirement for providing peaceful and relaxing holidays.
"After what happened in Tunis, we have decided to cancel all upcoming stops by our boats."
Both companies said they were working on alternative ports of call for the affected cruises.
Costa said two of its executives and 12 other employees are in Tunis attempting to track down its missing passengers.
The MSC Splendida had 3,714 passengers and 1,267 crew on board when it arrived in Tunis.
