$800 mn effort on to save shipwrecked Concordia

For the first time ever an operation to salvage a cruise ship as enormous as the Costa Concordia was put in motion on Monday off the coast of Italy, near the island of Giglio.

The luxury liner, Costa Concordia, was carrying more than 4,200 people, many of whom were having dinner at the restaurant when it hit a reef or rock near the Tuscan Island of Giglio in January 2012. The Concordia slammed into a reef and capsized killing 32 on board.

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The two missing victims from the cruise ship disaster are Russel Rebello of India and Maria Grazia Trecarichi of Sicily, Italy.

The cruise ship weighing 114,000 tons will be righted in an operation known as parbuckling in nautical parlance and will cost nearly $800 million.

Engineer Sergio Girotto said righting the ship could take up to two days. The ship will be pulled off the seabed and rotated onto giant platforms 30 meters below the water level. Areas of the ship that have been dry for months will be submerged and filled with water.

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If the ship breaks apart or sinks it would be devastating for the environment as it contains a mix of chemicals that could leak into the water.

Engineers will use remote control to operate a synchronised leverage system of pulleys, counterweights and chains looped under the ship to prod it free from the seabed and make it upright.  

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Salvage crew workers are seen in front of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner after the start of the "parbuckling" operation outside Giglio harbour.

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Cables used for the parbuckling of the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia are seen during the preparation of the operation outside Giglio harbour.

Known as parbuckling, the operation to raise the ship, which is the length of three football pitches, was delayed of a couple of hours because of a storm during the night. 

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Engineering teams began lifting the wrecked Costa Concordia liner upright on Monday, the start of one of the most complex and costly maritime salvage operations ever attempted.

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