Shipwrecked Costa Concordia to be removed in June; port to be decided but Italy preferred
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Italian officials say the shipwrecked Costa Concordia will be removed from its watery graveyard off Tuscany in June and taken to a port to be dismantled, the final phase of an unprecedented 600 million-euro ($817 million) salvage effort.
Officials gave the timetable and the rundown of what was needed for the ship to be refloated at a press conference Friday that came just days before the second anniversary of the Jan. 13, 2012, grounding that killed 32 people.
A handful of Italian ports — including Piombino, Genoa, Palermo and Civitavecchia — are bidding to take in the wreck, but there are also international bidders in France, Turkey, Britain and even China.
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Italy's environment minister and the head of Costa Crociere say the preference was to keep the project in Italy.