Costa Concordia Operation to Salvage Stricken Ship Begins
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After nearly two years stranded off the Tuscany coast, work is finally under way to recover
the Costa Concordia. The ship capsized in shallow waters 20 months ago after crashing
into some rocks. 32 people lost their lives. Freeing the liner - which weighs more than
100-thousand tonnes and is the length of three football pitches - is one of the most expensive
salvage operations ever, The rescue effort will see the giant ship gradually rotated
and rolled upright. The process was delayed for three hours due to bad weather overnight.
It eventually began at 9am on Monday morning. "The inclination is progressive and of course
after each step we'll carry out controls both underwater and via our cameras and we'll monitor
the behaviour and the angle of the ship, which should start moving. Visually it will take
some time before you'll see a difference but nonetheless the operation has started and
everything is going well." 500 engineers and divers are involved in the
salvage of the Costa Concordia. If all goes to plan, the operation is expected
to take around 12 hours and finish on Monday evening.
