Costa Concordia's Unprecedented Refloat Successful

The wreck of the Costa Concordia was refloated on Monday and will soon be towed away and broken up for scrap.  The rusting hulk of the luxury liner had been resting on a temporary platform since being righted a year ago.

In what has become one of the largest salvage operations in history, air was pumped into 30 sponsons attached around the hull of the ship. The air forced out the water in the sponsons, lifting the vessel off the underwater platform.

Prior to the commencement of the refloating, Costa Crociere CEO Michael Thamm said: â€œIt is a complex operation never attempted before, but we know we can count on the best technicians in the world. I wish them all the best for the success of this great challenge.” 

The refloating operation began at 6 a.m. on Monday, July 14. During the first stage, the Concordia was refloated about 2 meters up off the platforms and moved 30 meters towards the east with the assistance of tugs. The ship will then be securely moored and technicians will be able to complete the attachment and tensioning of the last cables and chains, and to lower the starboard sponsons to their final position. The actual refloating will then begin, raising the ship one deck at a time, from deck 6 to deck 3. The whole operation is expected to take about 6 or 7 days to complete. The departure of the Concordia from Giglio is currently scheduled for July 21.

Franco Porcellachia, the engineer in charge of the salvage, confirmed at a news conference around seven hours after the operation began that the hulk had been raised two meters out of the water. "I would say we are halfway through our plan to move the ship," Porcellachia said.

Work will start again on Tuesday to prepare it for towing within days to Genoa in northern Italy, to be scrapped.

Porcellachia said the sixth deck of the ship had started to emerge on Monday, and once that was fully above the water the other decks would become visible in quick succession. "When deck 3 re-emerges, we are in the final stage and ready for departure," Porcellachia said.

"We are undertaking an operation that will close a dramatic chapter for our country," Italian Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti commented at the news conference. Giglio residents made comments like: "I am happy they are taking it away because to see a ship like that always there, with the deaths that happened, it gives us the shivers."; and "It's a liberation. Finally. It's a liberation because it's about time that it goes away. We know very well what the Island has gone through over these last two and a half years - for better or worse - now it's got to go away, and we've got to re-start our lives. Because our lives have exclusively revolved around that ship and everyone who is working around her." 

Once the Concordia has left Giglio, the search will continue for the body of the last person who was aboard the Concordia the night it sank and has not been accounted for. The 33-year-old Indian waiter is the only victim of the 2012 shipwreck whose remains haven't been found. Russel Rebello was last seen near the stern of the Costa Concordia, helping passengers into rescue boats.

It has been more than two years since the Concordia capsized off the Italian coast, killing 32 people. The 290-meter ship ran aground on rocks near the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio in January 2012.