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The crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship was pulled completely upright early yesterday during a delicate 19-hour operation to wrench it from its side where it capsized last year off Tuscany.
Officials declaredit a "perfect" end to a daring and unprecedented engineering feat.
Shortly after 4am, a foghorn wailed on Giglio Island and the head of Italy's civil protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, announced that the ship had reached vertical and that the operation to rotate it - known as parbuckling - was complete.
The Costa Concordia operation - in timelapse

"We completed the parbuckling operation a few minutes ago the way we thought it would happen and the way we hoped it would happen," said Franco Porcellacchia, project manager for the Concordia's owner, Costa Crociere.
"A perfect operation, I must say," with no environmental spill detected so far, he said.
Applause rang out among firefighters in the tent where the project engineers made the announcement.
An hour later, Nick Sloane, the South African chief salvage master, received a hero's welcome as he came ashore from the barge that had served as the floating command control room for the operation.
"Brilliant! Perfetto," Sloane said, using some of the Italian he has learned over the past year on Giglio preparing for yesterday's operation. "It was a struggle, a bit of a roller coaster. But for the whole team it was fantastic."
The Concordia hit a reef on January 13, 2012, after the captain brought it too close to shore. The cruise ship drifted, listed and capsized just off the island's port, killing 32 people.
The operation to right it had been expected to take no more than 12 hours, but dragged on after some initial delays with the vast system of steel cables, pulleys and counterweights.
Final stages of the rotation went remarkably fast as gravity began to kick in and pull the ship towards its normal vertical position. The ship was rotated 65 degrees in the entire process.
Sloane said an inspection of the starboard side, covered in slime from its 20 months underwater while the ship was stuck on seabed rocks, indicated serious damage that must be fixed in the coming weeks and months.
The Concordia is expected to be floated away from Giglio in the spring and turned into scrap.


Shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship pulled upright off Italian coast

Salvagers pass the wreckage of the Costa Concordia in Italy after it was pulled upright following a 19-hour operation. The ship, which capsized in January last year after sailing too close to shore, will be turned into scrap. Photo: AFP

Sequence showing the Costa Concordia keeled over, then slowly emerging from the water and fully upright after the operation. Photo: AFP

The wreck of Italy's Costa Concordia cruise ship begins to emerge from water. Photo: AFP

The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship. Photo: AFP

The Costa Concordia next to Giglio Island. Photo: Reuters

Engineers begin ambitious Costa Concordia salvage off Italian island

Workers stand in front of the Costa Concordia ship lying on its side on the Tuscan Island of Giglio, Italy. Photo: AP

Salvage crew workers work on a side of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner. Photo: Reuters

US$800m operation to raise Costa Concordia

Workmen on a boat sail near the Costa Concordia ship as it lies on its side near the Tuscan Island of Giglio, Italy. Photo: AP

Five jailed in plea bargains over Costa Concordia luxury liner disaster

The Costa Concordia after hitting rocks off Giglio island, Tuscany, in January last year. Thirty-two people lost their lives. Photo: AFP

Costa Concordia salvage world's most complex and, at US$300m, costly

It had been hoped the Costa Concordia could be refloated by March, but the salvors are already two months behind schedule. Photo: Reuters

Captain of doomed Costa Concordia 'sues to get his job back' 

The Costa Concordia keeled over in the sea off the west coast of Italy after it crashed. Insert, the ship's captain Francesco Schettino. Photos: EPA, AP

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World

Engineers say shipwrecked cruise liner is upright after 19-hour operation


The crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship was pulled completely upright early yesterday during a delicate 19-hour operation to wrench it from its side where it capsized last year off Tuscany.


Shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship pulled upright off Italian coast

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Engineers say shipwrecked cruise liner is upright after 19-hour operation

Engineers say shipwrecked cruise liner is upright after 19-hour operation