Wreck to be gone by end of year

After salvage, will take 7 to 10 months

ROME The wreck of Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia will be moved from Giglio Island by the end of the year, the top rescue official said Sunday.

The ship’s owner, Costa Crociere, is readying a call for tenders, and the few companies capable of the job will quickly respond with recovery plans, said the head of Italy’s civil protection agency, Franco Gabrielli.

“These two stages should take about two months,” Gabrielli said.“taking into account the constraints that weather and sea conditions may impose, it will take seven to 10 months to remove the wreck,” he said.

The 114,500-tonne ship ran aground on rocks with 4,200 people aboard on Jan. 13 and is lying on its side off the Tuscan island.

A total of 17 bodies have been recovered, and 16 people remain missing.

Heavy weather on Saturday forced salvage crews to suspend pumping thousands of tonnes of fuel from the wrecked ship, though recovery operations continued and divers found the latest body, an unidentified woman.

Overnight the wreck, which usually moves two to three millimetres per hour, shifted 3.5 centimetres amid high winds and large waves.

Many in the region are concerned about fuel leaks from the ship.