Skip to main content
Sunday, November 1, 2026Nov 1
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

This story is free to read.

Shipwrecked Concordia floated successfully

FILE - This Jan. 14, 2012 file photo shows the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leaning on its starboard side after running aground on the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy. Franco Gabrielli, who heads the Civil Protection Department overseeing the wreck's removal, told reporters on Giglio Island Sunday, July 13, 2014, that while weather conditions aren't optimal, they are good enough to permit the start of operations to refloat and tow the Concordia to Genoa on the mainland for scrapping. He also promised that a search will be conducted for the only unrecovered body of the 32 Costa Concordia shipwreck victims as soon as the wrecked cruise liner is towed away from the island where it struck a reef in 2012. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE - This Jan. 14, 2012 file photo shows the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leaning on its starboard side after running aground on the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy. Franco Gabrielli, who heads the Civil Protection Department overseeing the wreck's removal, told reporters on Giglio Island Sunday, July 13, 2014, that while weather conditions aren't optimal, they are good enough to permit the start of operations to refloat and tow the Concordia to Genoa on the mainland for scrapping. He also promised that a search will be conducted for the only unrecovered body of the 32 Costa Concordia shipwreck victims as soon as the wrecked cruise liner is towed away from the island where it struck a reef in 2012. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File) FILE - This Jan. 14, 2012 file photo shows the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leaning on its starboard side after running aground on the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy. Franco Gabrielli, who heads the Civil Protection Department overseeing the wreck's removal, told reporters on Giglio Island Sunday, July 13, 2014, that while weather conditions aren't optimal, they are good enough to permit the start of operations to refloat and tow the Concordia to Genoa on the mainland for scrapping. He also promised that a search will be conducted for the only unrecovered body of the 32 Costa Concordia shipwreck victims as soon as the wrecked cruise liner is towed away from the island where it struck a reef in 2012. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

By Associated Press 1 min read

GIGLIO, Italy (AP) – The shipwrecked Costa Concordia has been successfully refloated in preparation for towing it away for scrapping.

Authorities expressed satisfaction that the operation to float the Concordia from an underwater platform had proceeded without a hitch early Monday. The cruise liner struck a reef in January 2012 and capsized, killing 32 people.

The ship was set upright in September, and then crews fastened huge tanks to its flanks, like water wings, to float it.

Italy’s environmental minister told reporters that the operation will only be finished when the ship is successfully transported to the port of Genoa for scrapping. Towing is set for later this month.

Concordia’s Italian captain is being tried in Tuscany for manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship before all were evacuated.