The Costa Concordia, a cruise ship of about 4,252 people that capsized 20 months ago on a Tuscan Reef at Giglio Island, is undergoing an operation to rotate about 65 degrees to an upright position on Monday morning.
The 952 foot long, 114,500-ton ship collided with rocks on January 13, 2012, tragically losing 3o lives with 2 passengers still unaccounted for at this time. After suffering a 160 foot gash on her left side, the ship began to sink and lost power completely. An order to abandon ship was not issued until one hour later, and the evacuation took over six hours while the ship grounded just off the Italian village of Giglio. Now, officials say that the wreckage simply cannot remain in water for another winter.
The ship is 2.5 times the size of the Titanic. This type of lift — called parbuckling — has never been attempted before on such a large scale. A 500 person team of international engineers and mechanics, using 17,000 tons of steel chains and a massive grouting mattress, is expected to take 8-10 hours for the operation. Engineer Sergio Girotto reported that it took 6,000 tons of force to detach the vessel from the reef early Monday morning.
Salvage expert Nick Sloane said, “The size of the ship and her location make this the most challenging operation I’ve ever been involved in.” Bringing the ship upright isn’t the only concern for locals, however. There are 237.5 cubic meters of polluted water contained inside, which officials hope to set off by inflatable pollution barriers and fishing nets.
The capsizing of the Costa Concordia brought controversy to both Carnival Cruiselines and Costa Concordia Captain Schettino, who is charged with abandoning ship. In a video featuring him looking like a blubbering buffoon, the Coast Guard was recorded telling the Captain, “Look, Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this. Get on board. Dammit!”
Schettino, now at home with his wife near Naples, is currently undergoing trail with charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. Schettino claims that he tripped into a life boat during the tragedy, bringing him to safety, and that the rocky reef which caused the capsize had not been marked on his charts — a reef that appears on tourist maps of the area.
The Costa Concordia, built in 2004, will likely not re-float until Spring of 2014, with her final port yet to be determined. Watch BostInno’s livestream as the Costa Concordia is righted.
