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Stricken cruise liner turned onto its keel in the early hours of Tuesday morning
The Costa Concordia was successfully righted in the early hours of Tuesday morning amid cheers from locals gathered on the nearby hillside of Giglio Island.
The operation to remove the stricken cruise ship from the rocky seabed was not only one of the most complex salvage procedures ever undertaken but one of the most expensive. The planning and execution of the operation cost more than €600 million, according to the BBC.
“It was a perfect operation, I would say, and from the environmental point of view I have to say there is no evidence so far of any impact to the environment,” said vice-president of Carnival Corporation, the ship’s owner, Franco Porcellacchia.
Twenty months after the Costa Concordia disaster, which claimed the lives of 32 people, it took just 19 hours to manoeuvre the vessel onto its keel.
The vessel will now be inspected from a purpose-built underwater platform, where it is hoped that the remaining bodies of two individuals that have never been found might finally be recovered.
The Costa Concordia will now be repaired so it can be towed away safely next year to be destroyed.
Video courtesy of Bloomberg
