THE COSTA CONCORDIA cruise ship, which sank off the coast of Italy two years ago, has begun its final voyage: being towed away for scrap.
Thirty-two people were killed when the cruise liner was wrecked on 13 January, 2012.
It will take four days for tugs to bring the ship to Genoa, where it will be scrapped.
Nets have been attached along the ship’s sides to catch and hold any items on board that could fall off on its final journey. The ship will travel at around 2 knots (or 2.3 mph) and it is being accompanied by several boats to monitor pollution from the ship.
The Telegraph reports that people on the nearby island of Giglio celebrated the ship’s removal:
“It’s hard not to get emotional,” said Franco Porcellacchia, an engineer with ship owner Costa Crociere.
“Today, Giglio is once again ours,” a local man, visibly relieved to see the back of the Concordia, told AFP.
The ship’s Italian captain is currently on trial for manslaughter, causing the wreck and for abandoning ship while hundreds of the ship’s 4,200 passengers and crew were still on board.
A new search of the seabed where the ship was marooned is due to begin this Friday for the one body which was never recovered from the site. Divers have already painstainkingly combed inaccessible areas in vain for the remains of the Concordia crew member.
The Italian government official in charge of overseeing the ship’s removal, Franco Gabrielli, said they will only be certain that the body is no longer aboard the ship when it has been dismantled.
- Additional reporting by the AP, AFP
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