Costa Concordia wreck refloated, awaits towing

The wreck of the luxury liner Costa Concordia was refloated on Monday, ready to be towed away for scrap, two and a half years after it capsized off the Italian coast, killing 32 people.

The rusty hulk of the once-gleaming-white 290-meter ship, which ran aground on rocks near the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio while carrying out a display maneuver, had been resting on a temporary platform since being righted a year ago.

In what has become one of the largest salvage operations in history, air was pumped into 30 large metal boxes, or sponsons, attached around the hull of the 114,500-metric-ton ship. The air forced out the water in the sponsons, lifting the vessel off the underwater platform.

"The boat is now floating with its sponsons attached," said Franco Porcellacchia, the engineer in charge of the salvage.

"The ship is upright and is not listing either longitudinally or latitudinally. This is extremely positive," he told a news conference six hours after the operation began.

The ship will be prepared to be towed to the port of Genoa in northern Italy, to be scrapped.

Authorities expressed satisfaction that the operation had proceeded without a hitch early on Monday.

Italy's environmental minister told reporters that the operation will be finished only when the ship is successfully transported to Genoa. Towing is set for later this month.

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is on trial accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck as he sailed too close to shore to "salute" the port and abandoning ship. He is fighting the charges.

Paying for the disaster, including breaking up the vessel and taking the damage to Giglio, is likely to cost the ship's owner and operator Costa Crociere, a unit of Carnival Corp, more than 1.5 billion euros ($2.04 billion), its chief executive said last week.

AP - Reuters

(China Daily 07/15/2014 page12)