Costa Concordia Ship Pulled Fully Upright after Salvage Operation

The crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship was pulled completely upright early Tuesday after a complicated, 19-hour operation to wrench it from its side where it capsized last year off Italy.

In the operation that took all of Monday and most of the night, engineers used cables and metal boxes filled with water to roll the ship onto a platform.

"We completed the parbuckling operation a few minutes ago the way we thought it would happen and the way we hoped it would happen," said Franco Porcellacchia, project manager for the Concordia's owner, Costa Crociere SpA.

"A perfect operation, I must say" he said, adding that that no environmental spill had been detected so far.

"I think the whole team is proud of what they achieved because a lot of people didn't think it could be done," said salvage master Nick Sloane, as cited by the BBC.

The Costa Concordia capsized in January 2012, killing 32 people.

The bodies of two of the victims of the disaster, by the island of Giglio, have never been found.

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