"I feel relieved," said Nick Sloane, head of operations that brought the Costa Concordia back to its feet, the ship lying on the rocks of the island of Giglio for a year and a half. A mammoth operation, which ended at 4 in the morning, costing 600 million euros (the invoice was delivered directly to Costa Cruises). Technically, a "madness" made possible by "11 golden men", as the head of the Civil Protection Franco Gabrielli called them, together with a team of 500 people.
“They did it”, “They did it”, headline the foreign newspapers. And so the rotation of the giant of the sea shipwrecked by the hand of the commander Schettino from shame becomes pride. “I just phoned Franco Gabrielli at Giglio”. Thus, with a tweet, the Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, recounts his satisfaction with the success of the Concordia operation. "I told him - adds the premier - that all those who are working there are a great Italian pride".
"We are here to confirm the conclusion of this phase of the Concordia operation - commented the head of the Civil Protection - we are very satisfied because the challenges were carried out with precision and correctness". "Thanks to the inhabitants of Giglio with whom we have shared suffering and fears", added Gabrielli during the press conference on the island of Giglio for the end of the first phase of the Concordia's recovery. "Their presence - added Gabrielli - has never been a hostile presence but always one of affection and support for the achievement of an objective that this territory wanted above all else". “The entire engineering part of the Concordia recovery operation is proudly Italian,” added Gabrielli.
"A great operation, but there is still a lot to do", commented the mayor of the island of Giglio, Sergio Ortelli.
