Concordia Floats Again!

It seems hard to believe it is two and a half years since the Costa Concordia carrying 4200 passengers on board hit rocks off the Italian coast and sank with the loss of 32 lives.

Well today following the hard work of Senior Salvage Master Nick Sloane and his team the ship has been floated off the sea bed and will then be towed to port to be broken up as salvage.

The operation which involved drilling and building a platform on the sea bed which was then used to pull the Concordia into an upright position has been a slow painstaking operation.

This is particularly poignant for one family as they mourn the loss of Russel Rebello, a 33-year-old waiter from India who is the only victim of the tragedy whose body has never been found.

Family have been waiting for news that perhaps the operation today would recover his body but as yet this is not the case.

The ship is floating,” chief engineer Franco Porcellacchia told scores of reporters gathered on the island of Giglio.

“It is now about one metre off the underwater platform it was laying on … This is extremely positive.”

Although lying low in the water the ship is upright and stable and air is being pumped into tanks on the sides of the ship to force out seawater and raise the ship approximately another metre. It will not sit at the normal level but it will be enough to tow it the short distance to the harbour at Genoa.

The pictures of the ship now are a far cry from the beautiful liner she once was.

From This….

To This…

My thoughts at this time are with the families of the 32 dead passengers.

What can be done to stop another tragedy like this happening?

Should one man be held responsible?

Surely other crew members realised they were too close and should have spoken out?

What are your thoughts on this?