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| Photo by Susan J. Young |
Salvagers were successful early Tuesday in "righting" Costa Concordia. The massive engineering effort "parbuckled" the ship onto an underground platform.
As the ship was pulled into a vertical position for the first time since its January 2012 accident, its crushed, muddy starboard side became visible.
That side of the ship showed several major indentations caused as the ship capsized onto a sloping seabed perch during the accident, which resulted in the deaths of 32 people.
Franco Porcellacchia, head of Costa Cruises' technical team, described the parbuckling project result as "perfect."
Agents might check out the CNN photo of the ship, taken after the procedure was completed at about 4 a.m .local time in Giglio, Italy. Visit www.cnn.com.
The ship will have additional work done to attach another "sponson" on its cripped side; then air will be pumped into the sponsons on either side to provide buoyancy.
However, due to rough seas expected during the winter, the ship will remain off the Giglio coastline until it can be towed to a port for scrapping next spring.
The entire salvage operation is estimated to cost at least $800 million.