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An Italian Navy officer talks on a walkie-talkie in
the harbor of the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, where the cruise ship Costa
Concordia run aground, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Salvage experts can begin pumping
fuel from a capsized cruise ship as early as Tuesday to avert a possible
environmental catastrophe and the ship is stable enough that search efforts for
the missing can continue, Italian officials said. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
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The discovery on the third floor deck brings to 16
the number of bodies found since the Jan. 13 grounding. Officials at the Tuscan
prefect's office said Tuesday they couldn't immediately confirm Italian news
reports that the body was that of a woman.
The discovery was made as a large platform carrying
a crane and other equipment hitched itself to the shipwreck, signaling the start
of preliminary operations to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the
ship's tanks.
Actual pumping of the oil isn't expected to begin
until Saturday, and will continue in tandem with search and rescue operations.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for
further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Actual pumping of the oil isn't expected to begin
until Saturday, but officials from the Dutch shipwreck salvage firm Smit were
seen on the bow of the Concordia and in the waters nearby making preparations
to remove the fuel.
Officials have identified an initial six tanks that
will be tapped, located in a relatively easy-to-reach area of the ship. Franco
Gabrielli, head of the national civil protection agency, told reporters Tuesday
that once the tanks are emptied, 50 percent of the fuel aboard the ship will
have been extracted.
The pumping will continue 24 hours a day barring
rough seas or technical glitches in this initial phase, he said.
"This is a complicated operation," Gabrielli
warned. Smit has estimated the extraction operation could last a month.
The Concordia ran aground and capsized off the
Tuscan island of Giglio
So far 15 bodies have been found. Six of the badly
decomposed bodies remain unidentified, and are presumed to be among some of the
17 passengers and crew still unaccounted for.
Divers, meanwhile, continued blasting holes inside
the steel-hulled ship to ease access for crews searching for the missing. The
search and rescue operation will continue in tandem with the fuel removal
operation.
On Monday, islanders and officials spotted an oil
film on the water about 300 meters (yards) from the wreck. Absorbent panels
were put around the oil to soak up the substance and officials said Tuesday it
was a very thin film that didn't present any significant levels of toxicity.
Giglio and its waters are part of a protected seven-island
marine park, favored by VIPs and known for its clear waters and porpoises, dolphins
and whales.
Gabrielli said he had formally asked Costa Crociere
SpA, the owner of the Concordia, to come up with a plan for what to do with the
innards of the ship that are floating away -- the tables and chairs and other
furniture that are being hauled away by barge on a daily basis.
And he said he had asked provincial authorities to
designate a site on the mainland where the material can be dumped.
Costa is a unit of Miami-based Carnival Corp., the
world's biggest cruise operator.
It has blamed the captain, Francesco Schettino, for
the disaster, saying he made an unauthorized and unapproved deviation from the
route. Schettino remains under house arrest facing accusations of manslaughter,
causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all passengers were off.
Early Tuesday, amid continued outrage by passengers
of the chaotic evacuation, Costa promised to refund the full cost of the cruise,
reimburse all travel expenses to and from the ship, all on-board expenses and
any medical expenses incurred as a result of the grounding.
"Every effort will be made to return the
valuables left in the cabin safe," Costa said in a statement.
Source: BostonGlobe.com. 24 January 2012
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