Costa Concordia pumping out 500,000 gallons of fuel
February 13th, 2012 - 8:17 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattRome, Feb 13 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Italian officials have started pumping out fuel from the ill-fated Costa Concordia cruise liner. Officials say they expect to pump out about 500,000 gallons of fuel from the ship, which went aground almost a month ago.
The operation has been hampered for weeks because of bad weather. The first 15 tanks of the ship are believed to hold more than 80 percent of the total fuel on board the ship. Officials estimate that it will take 28 days to get every drop from the tanks.
The operation started on Sunday with Dutch firm Smit overlooking the operation. Officials say they will attach holes to the tanks and suck the fuel from the ship into the tanks.
Smit’s salvage master, Bart Huizing told reporters that, “We expect the next five days to be good weather, and we will work 24 hours a day to pump out the fuel.”
He further revealed that this week will be very crucial. He told the Associated Press that, “Hopefully by the end of the week we will have the majority out.”
17 people have been confirmed dead with 15 others still missing since the disaster struck on the 13th of January. About 4,200 people escaped the wreck.
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Tags: 28 days, bad weather, bart, cruise liner, disaster, dutch firm, good weather, holes, italian officials, rome, salvage, tanks