Raising the Costa Concordia

The capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies on its side during the "parbuckling" operation next to Giglio Island September 17, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

The capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies on its side next to Giglio Island. September 16, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Salvage crew workers are seen in front of the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia after the start of the "parbuckling" operation outside Giglio harbor September 16, 2013.

People look on as the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies on its side next to Giglio Island September 16, 2013.

Salvage crew work on part of the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia after the start of the "parbuckling" operation, outside Giglio harbor September 16, 2013.

Salvage crew workers follow an operation to raise the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia from a boat next to it, outside Giglio harbor September 16, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Salvage crew workers are seen in front of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner after the start of the "parbuckling" operation outside Giglio harbor September 16, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Salvage crew workers work on a side of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner outside Giglio harbor September 16, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

People look on as the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies on its side next to Giglio Island September 16, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

The capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies on its side next to Giglio Island September 16, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

The capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies on its side next to Giglio Island September 16, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

A lightning storm is pictured over the sea near the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia, lying surrounded by cranes, outside Giglio harbor September 15, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Television crew protect themselves from the rain in front of the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lying surrounded by cranes outside Giglio harbour September 15, 2013.

People relax on the beach as the capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia lies surrounded by cranes outside Giglio harbour September 14, 2013.
REUTERS/Tony Gentile

   
 

Salvage crews completed raising the wreck of the Costa Concordia in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a 19-hour-long operation on the Italian island of Giglio where the huge cruise liner capsized in January last year.

One of the most complex and expensive maritime salvage operations ever attempted saw the 114,500-ton ship pulled upright by a series of huge jacks and cables and set on artificial platforms drilled into the rocky sea bed.

The operation was completed at around 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) without any significant problems.

"The ship has been settled onto its platforms," Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Authority, told reporters and a group of cheering residents who waited up into the early hours of the morning to hear the news.

"We have accomplished an important step towards removing the ship from the island," he said.

The Concordia, a 290-metre-long (950-foot-long) liner carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew, capsized and sank with the loss of 32 lives on January 13, 2012 after it struck rocks outside Giglio, where it has lain ever since, half-submerged on a rock shelf.

The vessel bore the marks of its long period on the rocks, with brown mud stains scarring the hull and clear signs of deformation to the structure.

After a salvage operation estimated to have cost more than 600 million euros ($801.15 million), the vast hulk will remain in place for some months more while it is stabilised and refloated before being towed away to be broken up for scrap.

The so-called "parbuckling" operation, in which the giant hulk was painstakingly rotated upright took longer than the 10-12 hours initially estimated but engineers said the project had gone exceptionally smoothly.

"The rotation happened the way we thought it would happen and the way we hoped it would happen," said Franco Porcellacchia, leader of Costa Cruise's technical team. "It was a perfect operation, I would say."

In contrast to the accident, a catalogue of mishap and misjudgement over which the Concordia's captain Francesco Schettino faces multiple charges, the salvage operation has so far been a tightly coordinated engineering feat.
It is expected to be the mos
t expensive maritime wreck recovery ever, accounting for more than half of an overall insurance loss of more than $1.1 billion.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Eric Walsh)