One of the largest and most daunting salvage operations ever undertaken is under way with an attempt to pull the shipwrecked Costa Concordia upright.
The operation was delayed for three hours because of an overnight storm, but began at 09:00 local time (07:00 GMT). Righting the ship is expected to take up to 12 hours. Engineers have never tried to lift such a huge ship so close to land. Thirty-two people died when it hit rocks. The Italian Civil Protection Authority said the sea and weather conditions had mostly been right for the attempt. The storm overnight on Sunday delayed the positioning of a barge carrying a remote control room close to the shipwreck. From that room, engineers will work using pulleys and counterweights to move the Concordia from the rocky ledge it is resting on.Sergio Girotto, an engineer working on the project, told reporters on Monday the operation was going ahead as planned: "Everything is going according to plan, we are following the plan to sequence... There is no problem whatsoever."
He added that after the operation had been going for a couple of hours, "we should be able to see something with the naked eye". The incident happened off the Tuscan island of Giglio in January 2012.The vessel has been lying on its side ever since.
Salvage workers are attaching giant metal chains and cables to the ship, which weighs more than 114,000 tonnes and is roughly the length of three football fields.
Five people have already been convicted of manslaughter over the disaster, and the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is currently on trial accused of manslaughter and abandoning ship.
Officials say that they still need to make preparations for the salvage operation which they were planning to do on Sunday night before the storm.
The salvage operation had been due to begin at 06:00 (04:00 GMT) on Monday.
"Due to heavy storms tonight, the operation has been put back by two hours," to 08:00 (06:00 GMT) civil protection chief Franco Gabrieli said.
The BBC's Alan Johnston at the scene of the operation says that everything about the project is on a colossal scale.
Source BBC.