Franco Gabrielli, the head of the Italian civil protection agency, recently announced that the wrecked Costa Concordia will be cleared away as soon as possible.
In the two years since the ship’s tragic accident, which claimed 32 lives, the sizeable wreckage has remained on Giglio Island. Gabrielli said that the ship cannot withstand another winter, and that it must be moved to Genoa as soon as possible. Based on statistics, he expects ideal weather conditions for the operation between July 13 and August 8. Gabrielli said that, at this point, he is awaiting approval to begin the move: ‘We should be able to remove everything by July 20, once we get the green light from the government and the local monitoring unit,’ he said.
Once in transit from Giglio Island, the wreckage is expected to arrive in Genoa within a week. (Giglio Island is about 321 kilometres from the port of Genoa, and the ship would be towed at approximately 1.6 kilometres per hour.)
Giglio Island’s mayor Sergio Ortelli commented that the main priority ‘is that the ship be taken away as soon as possible, in order to reduce the social and economic impact this terrible event has had on our island.’
