Costa Concordia wreck is upright

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013 — At 4.00 A.M. today local time, the Titan Salvage/Micoperi consortium announced that the Costa Concordia parbuckling operation had been successfully completed. The wreck of the cruise ship is now upright and resting safely on the specially built artificial sea bed, at a depth of approximately 30 meters.

The ship will now be thoroughly inspected and a search will be made for the bodies of two victims who remain unaccounted for following the January 2012 grounding and capsizing of the vessel with the loss of 32 years. Preparations will then begin for the effort to refloat the ship and repair the hull sufficiently to allow it to eventually be towed away for disposal.

A pneumatic system will be used to empty the water gradually from the caissons on both sides of the wreck, giving sufficient buoyancy to push it upwards. On completion of this process, about 18 m of the hull depth will remain submerged.