Any chance they can get the grounded Italian ship back upright?

Not really very likely. There’s probably nothing left except some bones, and those won’t ‘float’.

After all, these bodies have been underwater for almost 2 years now. Bodies decompose faster in water than when buried inside a coffin. Plus the fish & other sea creatures have had all that time to feed on those bodies. I doubt there’s much left.

RE: ONE billion dollars.

The guy who does this salvage probably checked out the insurance companies fanancial position and thought 'yeah they can probably afford to pay a billion … "

So thats what he puts in his quote … one billion dollars.

"but you have to use me for this salvage, I am the best in the world and you promised the government that you would use the best in the world ! "…

This operation will cost a pretty penny for reinsurance companies all over the World.

Here it is in 49 seconds, also without sound: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2013/09/17/concordia-timelapse.&hpt=hp_c4&from_homepage=yes#/video/world/2013/09/17/concordia-timelapse.

Definitely seemed to gain some momentum at the end there.

Probably costs less than NOT doing anything – just leaving the wrecked ship there to deteriorate.

The economy of that area is mainly dependent on 2 industries: tourism & fishing. Had they just left the wrect there to eventually fall apart, and leak all the sewage, rotted food, fuel oil, etc. into the ocean, it would have damaged both of those industries. To say nothing of the navigational hazard of the wreck itself.

But this way, those costs are avoided, re-usable parts of the ship will be recovered, and the steel of the vessel itself will be recycled.

There will also be lost of coins to be found under couch cushions.
:slight_smile:

As I understand it, most things on these cruise ships are paid for by charging it to your room (rather like services in a large hotel). So the passengers probably do not have pockets full of coins.

Curses!
Foiled again!

Although, ironically enough, lots of people have come to town in what would otherwise have been the off-season just to see the wreck.

Plus the hundreds of engineers, divers, & others who were doing the work to re-float the wreck – they all need places to eat & sleep. The prices on that island probably went up quite a bit during this time – certainly not usual off-season discounts.

Now that the ship is upright, maybe those workers could move into it?
The rooms on the upper decks of the port side were never underwater – they might make nice living quarters. Certainly handy to the jobsite! But they’d have to get electrical & plumbing working, I suppose,

Well, that plan failed. Put the ship back on the reef!

Not a bad idea. And could they get Wi-Fi?

The former captain has briefly gone back aboard: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/27/world/europe/italy-costa-concordia/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

I’m somewhat surprised it didn’t topple over again.

maybe soon

How Engineers Will Make the Costa Concordia Float Once Again

Very interesting - thanks.

Looks like she’s afloat again: http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/14/world/europe/costa-concordia-salvage/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The last body has now been recovered - thought to be an Indian waiter: Italy: Brother Identifies Corpse Found in Costa Concordia Wreck as Russel Rebello

I read in another article that the body had Russel Rebello’s ID tag on it, so it’s pretty certain to be him.

Months ago, I read that workers scrapping the ship found a skull and some bone fragments, and there was some question about if it was Maria Trecarichi or Russel Rebello. I never heard more about it. Now I guess the bones must have belonged to the lady.

I was in Genoa this summer, not specifically to see the wreck, but we realized after the fact that it was docked in the industrial part of the waters.

Took out the zoom lens, walked down there but was unable to really get close enough for a non-cropped shot. The size of the ship was what really blew me away, even as far away as we were. We noticed that it was pretty much only foreigners who’d stop their cars and look.