A mass will be held in a church on the tiny island and 32 illuminated lanterns – one for each person who lost their lives in the accident – will be released into the sky at 9.45pm local time, marking the exact moment that the Concordia slammed into rocks, tearing a 230ft gash in its hull.
The huge chunk of granite that embedded itself in the ship's side will be returned to the rocky shoal from where it was ripped, with a plaque commemorating the disaster. Two of the victims are still missing, their bodies believed to be trapped in the rusting hulk of the ship – Russel Rebello, 32, a waiter from India, and Maria Grazia Trecarichi, 50, an Italian housewife.
Mr Rebello's brother, Kevin Rebello, is among the relatives of victims who are attending the anniversary commemoration. He said he had still not "found peace" because his brother's body remained missing.
"It's going to be very painful to relive the sadness and trauma of that night," said one islander, who asked not to be named. "Our thoughts are with the two people whose bodies have still not been found."
There were 4,200 passengers and crew on board the ship when it rammed into Giglio on the night of January 13 last year, and more than 150 survivors and their relatives are expected to attend today's memorial events.
As passengers and their families converge on the tiny island off the coast of Tuscany, salvage experts announced that bad winter weather has delayed the refloating of the wreck of the huge cruise liner until September.
It had been hoped that the 950ft-long luxury liner could be raised this Spring, but rough weather and the challenge of drilling into granite to secure anchor blocks and pylons has pushed the schedule back by months.
The cost of the operation has also blown out, from an initial estimate of $300 million to $400 million.
The delay was perhaps inevitable given the massive scale of the recovery operation. It involves constructing steel platforms and other structures which together weigh 30,000 tonnes – more than three times as much as the Eiffel Tower.
More than 400 divers, engineers, welders and other experts from 19 countries, including Britain, are working round-the-clock, seven days a week, to prepare the ship to be rolled upright onto an underwater platform, refloated and then towed away to be broken up for scrap.
More than 20 vessels are involved in the salvage experts, including tug boats, cranes and barges.
The ship will be rolled upright with the help of hydraulic jacks, massive cables and 30 giant boxes which will be welded onto its port and starboard sides in order to provide buoyancy. Each is the height of a seven to 10 storey building but they must be welded into place so precisely that there is a margin of error of just one per cent in their positioning.
The huge boxes will act like arm bands, raising the ship in the water.
"Imagine the challenge of building, transporting and installing structures of this size," said Sergio Girotto, an engineer from Micoperi, the Italian company conducting the operation in partnership with an American firm, Titan Salvage. "There is no precedent for an operation of this kind." Experts are hoping to roll the ship into an upright position by June. It will then take six to seven weeks to prepare it for being refloated and towed to an Italian port to be dismantled.
"We've lost 35 days due to bad weather since the start of the project," said Nick Sloane, a South African who is in charge of the salvage. "Before the winter is over we could lose another 20 to 30 days, which will put the schedule back a bit more. "The concept of rolling a ship like this is not unusual but given that it is three football pitches in length, the scale is something that has never been attempted before. Once we start rolling the ship upright, there's no going back – gravity takes over. There will be a lot of structural distortion and loud noises as she rolls over."
The few hundred inhabitants of Giglio are desperate to see the wreck gone from the pristine waters and picturesque bays just outside the island's main port.
But even when the ship is floated away, the multinational salvage team will stay for at least another three months, cleaning the seabed of debris and removing the steel platforms and the 20,000 tonnes of cement, pumped into sacks, on which the ship will have rested.
The captain of the vessel, Francesco Schettino, who is accused of gross negligence in sailing the cruise liner too close to the island, is expected to be sent to trial on charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship in the next few weeks.
Nine other people, including some of the ship's officers, are under investigation. Another mystery surrounding the night the ship capsized emerged yesterday (sat) after claims that the Concordia's safes had held 1, 240,000 euros in cash, but that only 900,000 euros was recovered by officers escaping the vessel. The whereabouts of the missing 340,000 euros is unknown.
Saturday 12 January 2013
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9797998/Survivors-of-Costa-Concordia-cruise-ship-disaster-mark-first-anniversary-of-sinking.html
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