#CostaConcordia - More than two-and-a-half years after she sank off the western Italian coast, the ill-fated cruise liner Costa Concordia is set to be refloated in a first for the ship salvage industry.
As The Guardian reports, this will be the only time a ship so large has ever been salvaged - following a successful project to right the vessel that itself was described by salvage expert Nick Sloan as having a "90% plus" chance of working.
Plans for that operation came 18 months after the tragedy on the night of 13 January 2012 that claimed 32 lives and saw thousands of passengers - including an Irish couple - brought to safety.
The crew of the Carnival-owned cruise ship were recognised for their "courage and professionalism" in the large-scale rescue effort - in stark contrast to the ship's captain Francesco Schettino, who faces trial on multiple criminal charges connected to the incident.
Meanwhile, Paddy Agnew writes in The Irish Times on the atmosphere on the island of Giglio surrounding the salvage efforts, especially in light of Schettino's comments in a rare public interview that his orders to his bridge crew were misunderstood in the moments before the ship hit the rocks.
