The owner of the Costa Concordia cruise liner that ran aground off Italy in January has paid more than €2-million to French survivors in a settlement, their lawyer said Tuesday.

Costa Crociere, owned by US giant Carnival Corp., paid €9000 each to 235 survivors, their lawyer Bernard Courtois told AFP.

Thirty-two people were killed when Costa Concordia capsized on January 13 with some 3200 passengers aboard.

Out of these, 456 were French and 180 of them had accepted a payment of €11 000 each from the company in exchange for dropping any legal action; some 20 joined a class-action suit in the United States and another 20 are pursuing legal action independently, Courtois said.

The settlement agreed by the 235 remaining survivors was paid by the company on 4 May, he said, adding that the settlement did not preclude further legal action.

"There is no renunciation of anything, they can sue the company if they decide to do so," he said.

Costa Crociere faces scores of lawsuits by the survivors of the disaster while prosecutors in Italy are investigating nine people including the captain and three executives.