The departure of the wreck of the Costa Concordia from Giglio Island is set to be postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday, ANSA sources said Monday. The decision is linked to delays in the completion of the process to refloat the ship, which was wrecked after crashing into rocks off this Tuscan island in January 2012 in a disaster in which 32 people died, and not due to the weather conditions, the sources said.
The liner is now 12 metres higher than it was when resting on an artificial platform it was sat upon during last year's unprecedented parbuckling operation to set it upright, and the whole of deck four and the writing Costa Concordia are now out of the water. But the ship still has to be raised three more meters and another of the huge metal boxes that the salvage team are filling with air to float the 114,500-tonne ship needs to be attached in the area of the stern. Bad weather at Giglio had already prompted authorities to put back the ship's planned departure by a day. The ship will be towed by a convoy of 14 boats to Genoa, where it will be broken up for scrap. The journey is expected to take four days. "We are certain that it'll be in Genoa on Sunday," Costa Cruises CEO Michael Thamm told a press conference.
Former Concordia captain Francesco Schettino is on trial in the Tuscan city of Grosseto on charges of multiple homicide, causing a shipwreck by sailing too close to shore to "salute" Giglio, and abandoning the ship before it was evacuated.
Schettino is the only person on trial after four crew members and a Costa Cruises official were sentenced to terms of up to 34 months in prison following plea bargains. Costa Cruises avoided criminal prosecution by agreeing to pay a one-million-euro fine, but victims are seeking compensation in civil court.
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