Costa Concordia Cruise was successfully straightened after 20 months

The giant cruise ship Costa Concordia, which wrecked  last January 13, 2012, was successfully straightened after a complicated engineering operation of almost 19 hours.

The current problem that the engineers have  to face now on the cruise, which shipwreck killed 32 people, is the refloat of the ship and where to move it for its scrapping.

The operative called “parbuckling”, which looked to straighten  the “mole” of 44 600 tons, 290 meters long and 17 floors, was launched by the U.S. company Titan Salvage and Italian Micoperi. It required 500 workers and the cost was $ 790 million for the shipping company Costa Cruises, which owns the Costa Concordia. In 2006, the ship would have been valued at $ 590 million.

For the authorities, the priority is to find two bodies that still have not been recovered. Following that the cabins will be opened to retrieve the goods from the safes and return them to their owners.

It Is expected to stabilize the ship so it can withstand the winter, and then turn it into scrap. Meanwhile, the captain of the cruise ship, Francesco Schettino, is still accused of manslaughter and of abandoning ship.