GIGLIO, Italy - Salvage crews are working against time to remove the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship, which is slowly being crushed under its own weight on its perch of granite seabed off the Tuscan island of Giglio.
Officials said Monday that if this attempt fails, there won't be a second chance.
Nick Sloane, the leader of the salvage operation, said the Concordia has compressed some 10 feet since it came to rest on its side on the rocky perch Jan. 13, 2012, after ramming a jagged reef when it skirted too close to the island during a publicity stunt allegedly ordered by the captain; 32 people were killed.
Sloane, an engineer for U.S.-owned company Titan Salvage, said experts would have one chance to pull the ship upright and float it away to the mainland for demolition. The attempt will probably take place in mid-September. "We cannot put it back" down and start over, he said.
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Sloane spoke on the eve of the trial of Capt. Francesco Schettino, who is charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all passengers had been evacuated. Schettino denies wrongdoing.
The trial, which was supposed to get underway last week, was postponed until Wednesday due to a lawyers' strike.
The timetable to remove the Concordia has also been delayed. Bad weather undermined an original plan to remove the wreck before the start of summer.
Sloane expressed concern on Monday that the ship might compress further, making it impossible to pull it up upright and into a position so it can be floated away.
The project calls for dozens of cranelike pulleys flanking the ship to slowly start tilting the vessel upright.
On Monday welders moved like Spiderman on the horizontal hull, securing steel pieces that will function like hooks. Steel chains weighing 17,000 tons are being looped under the wreck to help pull it upright.
Crews are also attaching tanks to the ship's exposed flank; they will be filled with water to add weight and help pull the ship upright.
Identical caissons will be attached to the submerged side of the ship once it's righted.
The caissons on both sides will then be filled with air to float the ship up off the rocks so it can be towed away.
