The wrecked Italian cruise ship, the
Costa Concordia, has entered the port of Genoa for scrapping after a two-year
salvage operation.
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Costa Concordia ended its journey in
the port where it's life began nine years ago
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Its removal was one of the biggest
ever maritime salvage operations.
The Concordia struck a reef off the
Italian island of Giglio in January 2012 and capsized, killing 32 people.
Captain Francesco Schettino has denied
charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship, which could see him
jailed for up to 20 years.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is
expected in Genoa in the afternoon to see the end of the complex docking
procedure, which is expected to take several hours.
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The vessel spent four days being towed
at a slow speed from Giglio
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Genoa is where the Costa Concordia was
built and launched amid fanfare and celebration nine years ago but now she is
limping home to be scrapped, says the BBC's Alan Johnston.
"The operation to recover the
Concordia was not easy. Italy carried it out, the Italy that, when it sets out
to, is capable of doing anything, even of surprising us," Mr Renzi said.
Antonio Benvenuti, the head of Genoa's
harbour workers' union, told AP that there was no "precise schedule"
for each stage of dealing with the wreck.
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Hundreds of workers are expected to be
employed in the scrapping of the vessel
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Tests will be carried out first to
monitor for potential pollution problems, Mr Benvenuti said, before the first
stage of the operation would begin, reducing the weight of the ship in order to
lift it.
The Costa Concordia was re-floated
nine days ago and was kept above the surface by giant buoyancy chambers. More
than a dozen vessels helped to tow the ship after it was pulled away from
Giglio on Wednesday.
A huge net was dragged behind the
vessel aimed at catching things that might spill out of the wreck, such as
furniture or passengers' belongings, our correspondent says.
The wreck was hauled upright in
September last year but was still partially submerged, resting on six steel
platforms.
Investigators are still looking for
the body of Indian waiter Russel Rebello, whose body is the only one not to
have been found.
The Costa Concordia's owners, Costa
Crociere, estimate the operation to remove the wreck from the reef and tow it
for scrapping will cost 1.5bn euros (£1.2bn; $2bn) in total.
Source: bbc.
27 July 2014
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