The wreck of the Costa Concordia — which crashed on underwater rocks off the Italian coast in January 2012 — will finally be towed away in June, officials said at a press conference today.Ports in Italy, France, Turkey, Britain, and China are bidding for the right to dismantle the nearly 1,000-foot long ship for scrap, according to the Wall Street Journal. The choice will be made in March.
In September, salvage workers successfully flipped the capsized ship upright. Since then, it has been resting on an underwater platform, at a depth of about 100 feet. Workers have attached 15 enormous, hollow steel boxes — called sponsons or caissons — to the port side of the ship.
Now that it's upright, they will attach 15 more sponsons on the formerly submerged starboard side. This spring, all 30 will be drained of water. Empty, they will provide enough buoyancy for the ship to float up off the platform, to a depth of about 60 feet.
Then the Costa Concordia can be towed away, and Italy's Isola del Giglio can finally say goodbye to the eyesore.
Cutting the ship up for scrap will take two years, according to CBS.
32 people died after the ship crashed, and Captain Francesco Schettino is on trial for alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning the ship, according to WSJ.
*SEE ALSO: The $37 Million 'Apostrophe' Luxury Yacht Is Overflowing With Art Deco Style*
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Reported by Business Insider 11 hours ago.