Cruise Ship "Costa Concordia" Salvage Attempt To Go Ahead

dryriver writes "A daring attempt to pull the shipwrecked Costa Concordia upright will go ahead on Monday, Italian officials have confirmed. The Civil Protection agency said the sea and weather conditions were right for the salvage attempt. Engineers have never tried to move such a huge ship so close to land. Thirty-two people died when the cruise ship hit rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio in January 2012. It has been lying on its side ever since. Five people have already been convicted of manslaughter over the disaster, and the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is currently on trial accused of manslaughter and abandoning ship. The salvage operation is due to begin at 06:00 (04:00 GMT) on Monday, and it is being described as one of the largest and most daunting ever attempted. The head of the operation, Nick Sloane, told AFP news agency that it was now or never for the Costa Concordia, because the hull was gradually weakening and might not survive another winter. Engineers will try to roll the ship up using cables and the weight of water contained in huge metal boxes welded to the ship's sides — a process called parbuckling. This procedure must be done very slowly to prevent further damage to the hull, which has spent more than 18 months partially submerged in 50ft of water and fully exposed to the elements. The salvage project has so far cost more than 600m euros ($800m; £500m) and could cost a lot more by the time the operation is complete."

Comments

Re:this has me wondering

[drinkypoo]

Wow, way to be a condescending douche. "The autonomous and self-defined individual"? As if there is only one kind of person in the world, "the good kind".

I didn't get that from that at all. What I got is that there's only two kinds of people in a shipwreck, those who can make decisions for themselves, and those who are at substantial risk of dying while they wait for someone else to make decisions for them. I watched a documentary on the incident and many people were just sitting around waiting for someone to save them.

Now personally, I happen to feel that maintaining those people's lives is a net loss for the human race, because they'll never contribute anything of import. These are not capable, creative people. These are chair-warming wal-mart shoppers. They chose a vacation with maximum environmental impact and minimum ethical value and then many of them died for it.

well passive adventures are for pussies, amirite?

To me it's more about the impact. Also, there was no adventure involved whatsoever until the ship crashed, at which point these people proved their lack of worth. When the chips are down, they will look for salsa.

Jeez modded up to +5, too. How shameful.

Is there really anything wrong with the community agreeing that cruises are for the weak and stupid? The truth is that most cruises involve oppression. For less money you could patronize a beachfront resort, which if you look around can belong to the same family that's cooking your food. You'll be just as close to the ocean, but you can actually swim in it if you like. And you won't be decks above someone who is literally not permitted to come up for air, or indeed ever be seen by a passenger. You might actually do something instead of just sit on a fat ass shoveling food into it, and going shopping.

Cruise ships are just another example of conspicuous consumption, and if you want a medal for doing nothing, perhaps you should become a drone operator. I hear they give them out at the least provocation.