Cruise Liner Costa Concordia Aground in Italy - 30 Dead & 2 Unaccounted For

[MuffyBee]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24121480


A dark line marking a previously submerged part of the ship gives evidence of its movement.


The salvage project has so far cost more than 600m euros

Attempt to lift the capsized ship Costa Concordia are continuing overnight in Italy, with officials saying the operation is "in the final phase"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24110320
Costa Concordia: Watermark shows lift progress
16 September 2013 Last updated at 11:45 BST

[grace-land]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24121480

16 September 2013 Last updated at 22:30 ET
Costa Concordia ship set upright



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 operation "reached degree zero, which was our target".

In an operation that took all of Monday and most of the night, the engineers used cables and metal boxes filled with water to roll the ship onto a platform.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24121480

16 September 2013 Last updated at 22:30 ET
Costa Concordia ship set upright



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 operation "reached degree zero, which was our target".

In an operation that took all of Monday and most of the night, the engineers used cables and metal boxes filled with water to roll the ship onto a platform.
 

Wow-wee!      Thank you for the article & the impressive photo grace-land!   

[grace-land]

Video at the link

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/costa-concordia-finally-upright-after-19-hour-operation-1.1456359

Costa Concordia finally upright after 19-hour operation
Published Monday, September 16, 2013 5:42AM EDT 
Last Updated Monday, September 16, 2013 10:25PM EDT 

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy -- Engineers have declared the crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship completely upright after a 19-hour operation to pull it from its side where it capsized last year off Tuscany.

Shortly after 4 a.m. Tuesday, a foghorn rang out on Giglio Island and the head of Italy's Civil Protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, announced that the ship had reached vertical and that the operation to rotate it was complete.

Applause rang out among firefigters in the tent where Gabrielli and other project engineers made the announcement.

Officials said there was no apparent pollution in the waters around the ship as a result of the operation.
 

[grace-land]

You're welcome, MuffyBee!  It was awesome watching the live stream of the undertaking to get it upright.  The article below shows (step by step) how the challenging, difficult task was accomplished. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/22/world/europe/costa-concordia-salvage-interactive/index.html

Costa Concordia: How ill-fated cruise liner will be raised from Italian seabed 
updated 11:16 AM EDT, Mon September 16, 2013

[MuffyBee]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-17/costa-concordia-raised-off-rocks-after-19-hour-salvage-operation.html
Costa Concordia Raised Off Rocks After 19-Hour Salvage Operation
September 17, 2013


Marco Secchi/Getty Images
The rotation of the 952-foot (290-meter) ship, which began yesterday at about 9 a.m. local time, was organized by Florida- based Titan Salvage and Italy’s Micoperi and cost about 600 million euros ($801 million), according to Carnival Corp’s Costa Crociere SpA Italian unit, which owns the ship.

[Tamikosmom]

Costa Concordia’s rise in under two minutes: Time-lapse video shows unprecedented salvage in 1:23
17/09/13 10:52 AM ET

Engineers declared success Tuesday as the crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship was pulled completely upright during an unprecedented, 19-hour, $827-million operation to wrench it from its side where it capsized last year off Tuscany.

The remarkable maritime salvage project now allows for a renewed search for the two bodies that were never recovered from the 32 people killed in the shipwreck, and for the ship to eventually be towed away.

The Concordia’s submerged side suffered significant damage during the 20 months it bore the weight of the massive ship on the jagged reef, and the daylong operation to right it stressed that flank as well. Exterior balconies were mangled and entire sections looked warped, though officials said the damage probably looked worse than it really was.

The damage must be repaired to stabilize the ship so it can withstand the coming winter, when seas and winds will whip the luxury liner, which is to be towed and turned into scrap sometime in 2014.

<snipped>

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/17/costa-concordias-rise-in-under-two-minutes-time-lapse-video-shows-massive-rescue-in-123/

[grace-land]

http://www.euronews.com/2013/09/17/italy-search-for-missing-costa-concordia-passengers-to-begin/

Italy: search for missing Costa Concordia passengers to start
17/09 18:12 CET

The hunt for the bodies of two missing passengers who died when the Costa Concordia capsized is to begin, now that the cruise ship has been successfully salvaged.

In a complex 18 hour operation, engineers used cables and metal boxes filled with water to roll the ship off the rocks and onto a platform. The liner will now be reinforced, and towed away in the spring.

The authorities did warn it could take days before they could start looking for the bodies. “From an operative point of view we should wait until the shipwreck is secured,” said civil protection official Franco Gabrielli.

The leader of Costa Cruise’s technical team, Franco Porcellacchia, said there were still risks involved in the search and authorisation was needed before teams could go into new areas to look for the bodies.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.euronews.com/2013/09/17/italy-search-for-missing-costa-concordia-passengers-to-begin/

Italy: search for missing Costa Concordia passengers to start
17/09 18:12 CET

The hunt for the bodies of two missing passengers who died when the Costa Concordia capsized is to begin, now that the cruise ship has been successfully salvaged.

In a complex 18 hour operation, engineers used cables and metal boxes filled with water to roll the ship off the rocks and onto a platform. The liner will now be reinforced, and towed away in the spring.

The authorities did warn it could take days before they could start looking for the bodies. “From an operative point of view we should wait until the shipwreck is secured,” said civil protection official Franco Gabrielli.

The leader of Costa Cruise’s technical team, Franco Porcellacchia, said there were still risks involved in the search and authorisation was needed before teams could go into new areas to look for the bodies.
 

I continue to hold hope the two passengers remains will be recovered. 

[MuffyBee]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/09/1300919-costa-concordia-seagrass-italy-environment/?google_editors_picks=true
Seagrass Below Sunken Cruise Ship Worries Biologists
While the Costa Concordia may soon leave the Mediterranean, damage may linger.
September 19, 2013


A close-up of cabins on the severely damaged side of the stricken Costa Concordia after the parbuckling salvage operation successfully uprighted the ship.
Photograph by Marco Secchi, Getty Images

[MuffyBee]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/costa-concordia-before-and-after-photos_n_3989756.html
Costa Concordia Before And After Satellite Photos Show Extent Of Damage To Ship
September 25, 2013

New bird's-eye images showing the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship before and after the epic 19-hour operation to turn it upright were released Wednesday.

The images, courtesy of Google and satellite imagery company DigitalGlobe, are stunning. (Even more so in high definition.)
 

See photos at link.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24286183
Costa Concordia: Remains found near wreck
September 26, 2013

Italian officials overseeing the continuing search for bodies around the wreck of the Costa Concordia say unidentified remains have been found.

Two people have been unaccounted for since the night the ship sank off the Italian shore in a disaster which claimed the lives of 30 other people.

 
"During a search in the water near the central part of the ship, coast guard and police divers found remains which still have to be identified with DNA," Italy's civil protection agency said in a statement on Thursday.

An Indian waiter, Russel Rebello, and Italian passenger Maria Grazia Trecarichi were reported missing, presumed dead, after the disaster.

It was thought that perhaps they had been trapped beneath the ship and the rocks, the BBC's Alan Johnston reports from Rome.

Divers found remains lying just outside the hull on the seabed. They still have not been brought ashore, and the process of running DNA identification tests is yet to begin.

But relatives of the two missing people have been informed of the find.

[MuffyBee]

http://news.sky.com/story/1146811/costa-concordia-remains-found-near-liner
Costa Concordia: Remains Found Near Liner
Authorities say DNA tests will determine if the remains are those of two victims whose bodies have never been found.
September 26, 2013

Divers have found human remains near the shipwrecked cruise liner which ran aground off the Italian coast in January 2012.

Authorities say DNA tests will tell whether the remains are those of two victims whose bodies were never found.

The search for the last of the 32 dead resumed after the capsized cruise liner was hauled upright last week in a 19-hour salvage operation 20 months after the ship crashed into a reef off Giglio Island on January 13, 2012.

The remains were "absolutely consistent" with the two missing people, an Indian man and an Italian woman, said Franco Gabrielli, the head of the government agency overseeing the vessel's salvage.

Relatives of the two victims - a female Italian passenger and a male Indian waiter - have been notified, Mr Gabrielli said.

Recovering the submerged bodies after 20 months under the weight of the 114,500 tonne vessel was "almost a miracle," he added.
 

[MuffyBee]

I had been hopeful the remains of the last two victims could be recovered, and it appears they've been found.  (pending identification) There is nothing that can change what happened, but I hope the recovery of the remains will give their families and friends some peace. 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/world/europe/italy-costa-concordia-remains/
Remains found on Costa Concordia
September 26, 2013

CNN) -- Human remains have been found on the wrecked Costa Concordia, possibly answering what happened to the last two missing passengers of the cruise liner that ran aground off Italy's Giglio Island in 2012, a spokesman for the head of Italy's civil protection agency said Thursday.
 Costa Concordia families still wait
Divers will try to recover the remains, which were found on deck 4, on Thursday afternoon, the spokesman said.
 

[MuffyBee]

Interesting.  I'm looking at various news articles and some say the remains were found near the d Costa Concordia, and then there is the CNN article posted just prior to this post that says they were found on deck four.


http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/world/europe/italy-costa-concordia-remains/
Remains found on Costa Concordia
September 26, 2013

http://news.sky.com/story/1146811/costa-concordia-remains-found-near-liner
Costa Concordia: Remains Found Near Liner
Authorities say DNA tests will determine if the remains are those of two victims whose bodies have never been found.
September 26, 2013


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24286183
Costa Concordia: Remains found near wreck
September 26, 2013

[Green Eyes]

I am so glad they were able to find the two missing people.  Hopefully the families will be able to have some closure. 

[MuffyBee]

I am so glad they were able to find the two missing people.  Hopefully the families will be able to have some closure. 

Me too GE. 

[MuffyBee]

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/23/world/europe/italy-costa-concordia-trial/?hpt=hp_t3
Lawyers for Costa Concordia captain seek tour of ship's bridge, engine room
September 24, 2013

Giglio, Italy (CNN) -- Francesco Schettino, the captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia cruise liner, wants to get back on the ship. His lawyers Monday formally asked a panel of three judges for permission to tour the ship's bridge and engine room as part of a defense strategy that he says will prove that was not the only person responsible for the disaster.
The liner, which crashed on the rocks off Giglio Island in January 2012, killing 32 people, was rotated back to vertical last Monday. The unprecedented maneuver, called parbuckling, exposed a twisted mass of metal, dotted with mattresses, passenger luggage and deck chairs on the ship's previously submerged starboard side. Now that the Concordia is upright, there can be further investigation of the captain's alleged mishandling of the ship.
Defense lawyers for Schettino agreed with lawyers representing more than 200 civil parties against the captain, including Giglio Island and several passenger and environmental advocacy groups, in asking for a new examination of the ship now that it is upright. Such an examination could include divers going deep into the belly of the vessel to examine whether watertight doors sealed properly, and whether automatic generators functioned. He also wants to walk the judges through the command bridge in a re-creation of the night of the crash. Half of the command bridge was submerged for 20 months.
More...

Video at Link

[MuffyBee]

http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2013/10/02/more-remains-found-at-costa-concordia-site
More remains found at Costa Concordia site
October 2, 2013



ROME - Divers have recovered what could be more human remains from the sea where the Costa Concordia cruise liner sank last year off the Italian island of Giglio, the head of Italy's civil protection agency said on Wednesday.

The agency said last week it had found remains that could belong to the last two missing victims from the disaster on Jan. 13, 2012, when the ship capsized after striking rocks, killing 32 people.

"Other remains have also been found and are currently undergoing DNA tests," the agency's chief Franco Gabrielli told reporters on Wednesday. "We are waiting for the results of the analysis," he said.