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Dive News: Salvaging the Costa Concordia Shipwreck

Author: Maduro Dive Staff


[VIDEO] and full story by: CBS News

Shipwreck: Costa Concordia

Eleven months ago, the Italian luxury liner ‘Costa Concordia’ hit a huge boulder whilst sailing the shores of Giglio Island. The effect: the most expensive and daunting salvage operation and potential environmental catastrophe.

It is twice the size of the Titanic and the largest passenger ship ever wrecked.

The Plan? (Which we might add has never been done before)

American wreck removal company Titan Salvage and Italian engineering firm Micoperi have teamed up to roll the 60,000-ton ship onto an underwater platform, raise it, then float it away to be scrapped.

Crazy, right?

111 Divers | 8 Countries

Much of the work is done by specially trained salvage divers who work round the clock in a race against time (and the weather) to get this ship off the marine preserve.

Salvage Divers

111 divers from around the world have come to do their part in salvaging the ship with as little damage as possible to the environment.

Geared up with communication equipment, air, back-up air, a camera and a light, they’re lowered 40 feet into the ocean in a cage. Although they’re working non-stop, each diver can only be submerged for 45 minutes at a time. They then have 5 minutes to come up, strip off their gear and step into a decompression chamber.

The salvage divers live in close quarters on floating barracks right next to the wreck and have even formed a camaraderie despite their language barriers.

It’s a pretty sweet but dangerous job. We must admit we’re a little jealous. A trip to the shores of Italy with other divers from around the world AND save the environment? Where do we sign up?!

Check out the [VIDEO] and CBS New’s 60 Seconds full story here: Costa Concordia: Salvaging a Shipwreck>>

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