Costa Condcordia Shipwreck Re-Floated for Towing

Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images(ROME) — Remnants of the Costa Concordia cruise ship are prepped for the vessel’s final journey after crews raised the Italian ship from an underwater platform Monday.

The vessel, which struck an island off the coast of Tuscany in January 2012, is set to be towed away from the area in a process that is expected to take at least four days.

The crash killed 32 people, with one body still unrecovered from the disaster. Italian officials say the search for the victim will resume once the ship is removed.

The stakes are high, however, as fuels and chemicals are still onboard. If the vessel should break apart, it could prompt a potential environmental disaster with pollution.

Operations to bring the ship above water included pumping air into the luxury liner, forcing seawater out and raising one deck at a time. Crews will begin the next steps in towing, traveling two miles per hour with the help of tugboats, to drag the Costa Concordia to a port more than 190 miles away for scrapping.


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