The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Audacious bid to salvage ship
Italy: Engineers to try to right liner in feat never attempted so near shore
A daring attempt to right a capsized cruise liner will take place today in the waters off Tuscany.
Authorities gave the goahead yesterday for the make-or-break engineering feat which has never before been tried so close to land.
The Costa Concordia capsized 20 months ago and Italy’s national Civil Protection agency waited until sea and weather conditions were forecast for dawn today before giving the green light.
In a statement, the Civil Protection agency said the sea and wind conditions “fall within the range of operating feasibility”.
The Concordia struck a reef near Giglio Island on January 13, 2012. She took on water through a 230foot gash in her hull and capsized just outside the harbour.
Thirty-two of the 4,200 passengers and crewmembers died. The bodies of two of the dead have never been recovered, and may lie beneath the wreckage. Never before have engineers tried to right such a huge ship so close to land. If the operation succeeds, the Concordia will be towed away and broken up for scrap.
Salvage experts had originally hoped to right the 115,000-tonne vessel last spring, but storms hampered work.
The operation involves dozens of crank-like pulleys slowly rotating the ship upright at a rate of about three metres per hour. Tanks filled with water on the exposed side will also help rotate her upward.
Once upright, the tanks – and an equal number on the opposite side – will be filled with air, to help float the ship up off the reef.
The head of Italy’s Civil Protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, has said there is no “Plan B” if the rotation fails.
But Nick Sloane, the South African who is senior salvage master, said he was confident the ship would withstand the stress of the 10 to 12-hour operation.