Capsized Cruise Ship ‘Costa Concordia’ Becomes Tourist Attraction
Seven months after it capsized off the coast of Italy claiming
the lives of 32 passengers, the wreck of the Costa Concordia has become
a tourist attraction. Thousands of people queue up each day to catch a
ferry that passes within meters of its submerged ship.
The
cruise liner ran aground on 13 January 2012 after the ship struck a rock
in the Tyrrhenian Sea about 100 km northwest of Rome. This tore a 50 m
gash on the port side of her hull, which almost immediately flooded
parts of the engine room and caused loss of power to her propulsion and
electrical systems. With water flooding in and listing, the ship drifted
back to Giglio Island, where she grounded just 500 m north of the
village of Giglio Porto, lying on her starboard side in shallow water.
More
than six months on and the tiny isle is teeming with tourists. In
nearby Santo Stefano, 15km away and attached to the Italian mainliand,
tour operators are touting 10 euro tickets that gives buyers the chance
to see the stricken cruise ship as the ferries pass within meters of the
Concordia. Giglio's mayor, Sergio Ortelli, confirmed: 'There has been a
rise in the number of tourists coming for the day, with curious people
taking photos of the giant sprawled on the rocks.'
Salvage
operations are currently undergoing that plans to seal the breaches in
the hull, and then by using giant inflatable buoys the ship could be
refloated and then tugged away. The recovery is the largest ever
ventured and is predicted to take another 7 to 10 months, depending on
weather and sea conditions.
