Italy's Titanic threatens the marine environment

A huge amount of polluted water from rotting food and chemicals will escape to the environment after the salvage ship Costa Concordia was salvaged on September 16.

Telegraph said people around the region are concerned that the Costa Concordia vessel salvage operation may contaminate the pristine waters of Giglio island, Italy, where the ship struck the reef and lay on its side in the year. last. At the time of the accident, the ship was carrying more than 4,000 passengers. It was dubbed "Titanic of Italy" by the press .

Costa Concordia trains carry a large number of fresh foods, dry food, drinking water and many other supplies to serve passengers. More than 10 tons of fish, pasta, 2,000 jars of jam and nearly 17,000 tea bags remain inside the ship. In addition, about 7 tons of raw beef, nearly 11,000 eggs and more than 1,000 liters of milk are rotting below the hull.

Costa Concordia is about to be salvaged.(Photo: AP)

Some canned food and water are considered to be less likely to cause pollution. However, in addition to rotting food, the ship also carries a variety of oils, lubricants and other chemicals, along with thousands of items such as cushions, clothes, and shoes.

It is estimated that there will be about 29,000 cubic meters of polluted water escaping from the ship when it is pulled vertically.

A plan to prevent this pollution was drafted by Arpat, the environmental protection agency of Tuscany, Italy. They will monitor the quality of water around the ship 24 hours a day immediately after salvage activities take place at 6 am on September 16 local time (13:00 am Hanoi time).

Andrea Orlando, Italy's Environment Minister last month requested that the plan be made more detailed, so that it could respond in time to any emergency related to the marine environment here.

Experts say this could be the most expensive rescue ship in history, with an estimated cost of $ 800 million and insurance worth more than $ 1.1 billion. Last year, the rescue of the ship was interrupted many times due to adverse weather conditions.

Four crew members and one employee of the Costa Cruises managing company were sentenced to prison in July, for being partly responsible for the accident, such as Italy's Titanic disaster.

The captain of Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, was accused of abandoning the ship before the crew and passengers were rescued. He is still being tried for manslaughter and caused great damage to the ship. 32 people were killed in the ship's stranding.