Herbert Smith and Irwin Mitchell are among a growing list of firms picking up advisory roles stemming from the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster earlier this month (13 January) which has left 13 dead and around 20 more missing.

Herbert Smith is advising Costa Cruises' parent company Carnival Corporation on matters concerning future bookings, with instructions being handled by the firm's insurance team in Hong Kong. Clyde & Co, Norton Rose, which has previously advised Carnival on shipping finance matters and Ince & Co are also advising, although none of the firms would confirm their roles.

Irwin Mitchell, meanwhile, is representing more than 20 survivors of the disaster, which saw the ship, which was carrying some 4,200 passengers and crew, sink after hitting rocks near the island of Giglio, off Tuscany.

The top 20 UK firm's head of travel litigation Clive Garner is leading a team of 12 lawyers advising a growing list of survivors, with the firm's offices in Spain and Italy also advising.

Clients include British expat Sandra Rodgers who has spoken of losing her husband's ashes as she struggled to make it onto a lifeboat.

Garner said: "Collectively, we are dealing with dozens of clients, and the number of inquiries is climbing all the time. I suspect they might rise substantially in the coming weeks."

"With thousands of people on board this huge vessel, the safety of passengers should have been the first and only priority. Tragically, our clients confirm that this was not the case and passengers and their families have paid a very heavy price. The running aground of the Costa Concordia was terrible enough, but this was compounded by the woeful management of the evacuation of the vessel," said Garner.

The evacuation of the vessel has come in for significant criticism, with the ship's captain Francesco Schettino detained under house arrest while his actions that night are investigated.

He has been accused in press reports of causing the shipwreck by sailing too close to Giglio and of abandoning the ship before all of the passengers had been evacuated.

The Costa Concordia left Civitavecchia, Italy on 13 January carrying approximately 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members on a seven-day trip that should have called in at Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca; Cagliari and Palermo.

Carnival announced last week that it was carrying out a full audit and review of safety and emergency response across all of its cruise lines.