According to various reports from agencies involved in the Costa Concordia’s removal, the Costa Concordia may not be removed from her current resting place until next year.
The commissioner of the Costa Concordia emergency, Franco Gabrielli, claims that his firm needs additional information that is being held by Titan Micoperi Consortium (TMC). TMC is the firm that has been contracted for both the removal of the Costa Concordia and the cleanup.
Speaking to a local Italian newspaper in an interview, Gabrielli explains the situation: “If they do not provide us with a whole range of assurances, the ship will remain in its current condition until next year when the weather conditions will permit rotating it back on its axis in absolute safety,” Gabrielli said. “Despite the number of times the engineers have made simulations and hypotheses, we do not know the degree to which rocks have penetrated the side, what types of gashes they made and what the real conditions of the structure are, and thus the type of intervention they should undertake to allocate the caissons necessary to make the whole ship floatable.”
The Costa Concordia has been on Giglio Island since January of 2012 when she wrecked off the coast of the small Italian island. The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, currently faces multiple charges including causing a shipwreck and manslaughter for the deaths of 32 guests. Schettino’s trial began earlier last week, but is currently suspended until July 17th due to a lawyer’s strike in Italy. If Schetinno is found guilty of his charges, he will face 20 years in prison.
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Photo: AFP
One reply on “Costa Concordia Removal From Giglio Delayed”
Whoever heard of a lawyers strike?!! haha