Concordia Oil Pumping to Start

Salvage crews are scheduled to start pumping thousands of tonnes of fuel from the Costa Concordia, which capsised off the Tuscan coast on January 13. Officials say the removal will begin on Saturday. The news comes as search and rescue teams found a 16th body on Tuesday – an elderly woman in a life jacket. There are still at least 16 people missing.

There is more than 2,300 tonnes of diesel oil in the 17 fuel tanks on the Costa Concordia, and teams have started preparing for the complex task of pumping it out. Smit Salvage, a Dutch company, will be handling the fuel removal effort, and it has deployed a barge with defueling equipment to scene. Divers have started the work of putting external fuel tanks in place to hold the oil extracted.

Authorities have become more concerned about an oil spill happening in the Mediterranean marine reserve, and work to remove the fuel had until now been delayed by the search for bodies and survivors. It’s expected to take several days to prepare for the oil pumping, while it will take another 28 days to actually remove the fuel.

Italian Civil Protection Authority head Franco Gabrielli says that pumping probably won’t start before Saturday. However, any time before that will be welcome, he added. Officials have dismissed reports of oil already starting to leak from the ship, saying that monitoring equipment shows no substantial pollution spreading from the shipwreck. There was a thin film of oil in the water, but it didn’t pose a serious threat. Gabrielli also noted that he asked Costa Cruises, the ship’s owners, to create a plan to clean up the pollution from general debris surrounding the ship by today.

Meanwhile, a hole was blasted into the third deck of the ship, which is underwater, by navy explosive experts to allow divers to continue searching the vessel. This followed the bodies of two women being found on Tuesday. Fire services spokesman Claudio Chiavacci says rescue efforts are simultaneously continuing while the operation is underway.

Aside from what is going on around the Costa Concordia, magistrates investigating the accident are due to extend their inquiries to put more focus on the operators. Costa Cruises chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi is expected to be questioned by the public works committee of the Senate today. This follows Captain Francesco Schettino insisting in a hearing that his bosses told him to take the ship off course for a “salute” to the island of Giglio in order to please passengers and attract publicity.

The captain has been blamed entirely for the shipwreck and has been charged for abandoning ship and for multiple counts of manslaughter. Costa has suspended him from duty and refused to pay his legal fees. The company says it hasn’t been notified that it’s under investigation but will fully cooperate with investigators.