The cost of removing the sunken Costa Concordia cruiseliner will cost more than the ship's original build price
The cruiseliner Costa Concordia will be refloated in a matter of weeks in a mission that is expected to cost in the region of £400m.
View the story of the COSTA CONCORDIA in photos.
As part of the mammoth salvage operation, 18,000 tonnes of concrete have been used to build a platform underneath the partially sunken ship, ready for it to be winched upright. A team of 500 engineers are working on the mission, which will set insurance companies back nearly £30m more than the original cost of building the ship.
Once upright, the 952ft (290m) ship will be floated using airbags attached to its hull and taken to an Italian breaking yard where it will be dismantled.
In January 2012 Costa Concordia struck a rock off the Italian island of Giglio and sank in shallow waters, killing 30 passengers, with a further two still lost at sea. This July it was reported that the ship is collapsing under its own weight and is now 10ft (3m) narrower than at the time of the accident.
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