Salvaging the 'Costa Concordia' Doomed Cruise Ship Prepares for Final Voyage

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Spiegel:

Salvaging the 'Costa Concordia' Doomed Cruise Ship Prepares for Final Voyage

By Fiona Ehlers and Christian Wüst

 

 

Carlos Folgoso/ Massimo Sestini/ DER SPIEGEL

Disposing of the Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the coast of Tuscany in January 2012, will be the most spectacular salvage operation in the history of seafaring. The pressure on the team is huge: If anything goes wrong, the ship's operator will have another disaster on its hands.

 

 

 

Withered potted palms hang upside down over the rusty railing. Chairs lie scattered across the deck and devastated banquet tables can still be recognized under glass roofs. Viewed up close, from one of the coast guard's inflatable boats, the cruise ship Costa Concordia resembles a city that has been hastily evacuated.

 

 

The clock over the children's pool stopped at 11:30 p.m. on Jan. 14, the night that the ship ran aground. By that time, captain Francesco Schettino had long since abandoned ship, but passengers and crew were still fighting for their lives.

 

Nicholas Sloane, 51, a red-haired, freckled South African with hands like bear paws, is steering the rubber boat around the wreck. Before him looms