Costa Concordia Salvage Operation Monday Sep 16,2013

The wreck of Italy's Costa Concordia cruise ship near the harbour of Giglio Porto on September 16, 2013. Salvage workers attempt to raise the cruise ship today, in the largest and most expensive maritime salvage operation in history, so-called 'parbuckling', to rotated the ship by a series of cables and hydraulic machines.

 Authorities have given the final go-ahead for a daring attempt Monday to pull upright the crippled Costa Concordia cruise liner from its side in the waters off Tuscany, a make-or-break engineering feat that has never before been tried in such conditions. The ship capsized there 20 months ago, and Italy's national Civil Protection agency waited until sea and weather conditions were forecast for dawn Monday before giving the OK to try to right it.

Shipwrecked Costa Concordia declared vertical off Italy

The crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship was pulled completely upright early Tuesday Sep 17,2013 during a complicated, 19-hour operation to wrench it from its side where it capsized last year off Tuscany, with officials declaring it a "perfect" end to a daring and unprecedented engineering feat

Shortly after 4 a.m., a foghorn wailed on Giglio Island and the head of Italy's Civil Protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, announced that the ship had reached vertical and that the operation to rotate it - known in nautical terms as parbuckling - was complete.



 Note
Thirty-two people died when the ship, with 4,200 passengers onboard, hit rocks and ran aground off the island of Giglio on January 2012.