Time lapse of Costa Concordia salvage operation
From BBC
Engineers in Italy have
succeeded in setting the cruise ship Costa Concordia upright, 20 months
after it ran aground off the island of Giglio.
They said that the unprecedented salvage effort "reached degree zero [vertical], which was our target".
In the operation that took all of Monday and most of the
night, they used cables and metal boxes filled with water to roll the
ship onto a platform.
The Costa Concordia capsized in January 2012, killing 32 people.
The bodies of two of the victims of the disaster, by the
island of Giglio, have never been found.
There are hopes that they may
be located during the operation.
Pleiades 1A CNES image (17/09/2013)
'Double Titanic'
The ship was declared completely upright shortly after 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's Civil Protection
Authority, said the vessel was now sitting on a platform built on the
sea bed.
"A perfect operation, I must say," said Franco Porcellacchia,
leader of the technical team for Costa Cruise, the owner of the ship.
He added that no environmental spill was detected so far.
"I think the whole team is proud of what they achieved
because a lot of people didn't think it could be done," said salvage
master Nick Sloane - but he added "it's not over yet".
When the vessel was finally righted in the early hours of Tuesday morning, there was a giant cheer
from people gathered at Giglio harbour, says the BBC's Matthew Price,
and rescue workers have been out celebrating with coffees.
As daylight broke, the now-upright, brown hulk of the ship
was visible - its hull muddy and crushed from 20 months spent submerged
on its side.
Booms and nets were put in place before the operation started - to
combat any pollution threat in what is a marine national park.
The 114,000-gross tonnage ship - twice as heavy as the
Titanic - was on Monday raised from rocks on which it had been lying and
roll up onto her keel.
More than 50 enormous chains and winches were used to break the ship away from the reef - the process known as parbuckling.
During the marathon operation, the ship could be seen slowly emerging from the water.
The engineers had originally planned to complete the
operation by Monday evening, but it had to be delayed by three hours
because of a storm.
The procedure was carried out very slowly to prevent further
damage to the hull, which spent months partially submerged in 15m (50ft)
of water and fully exposed to the elements.
Officials now plan to fully inspect the vessel and begin to
prepare the next stage - the effort to repair and refloat it and
eventually tow it away to be destroyed.
Engineers have never tried to lift such a huge ship - over 951 feet long (290m) - before.
As the ship became visible at dawn following
the "perfect" operation, the damage done to the hull after spending 20
months crushed under the weight of the ship was plain to see
This is one of the most daunting and complex
salvage operations ever undertaken.
"A lot of people didn't think it
could be done," said salvage master Nicholas Sloane.
A 500-strong team of divers
and engineers have spent much of the past year stabilising the ship and
preparing for this phase.
Huge cost
Five people have been convicted of manslaughter over the
disaster.
The captain, Francesco Schettino, is currently on trial
accused of manslaughter and abandoning ship.
Giglio mayor Sergio Ortelli earlier said that
the removal of the Costa Concordia would bring an end to "a huge problem
that we have in our port and that we want to solve as soon as we can".
"Islanders can't wait to see the back of it," he said.
The small island's economy depends hugely on tourism and the presence of the wreck has discouraged visitors.
The salvage project has so far cost more than 600m euros
($800m; £500m) and is expected to cost much more before the operation is
complete.
Links :
Links :
- TheIndependent : Costa Concordia salvage: Ship pulled upright damage from tragic capsize emerges
No comments:
Post a Comment