Recovery efforts at the site of the cruise ship disaster off the coast of Italy has entered a new phase Tuesday, with crews ready to remove oil from the wreckage. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.
By NBC News and msnbc.com news services
Updated at 11:00 a.m. ET: GIGLIO, Italy -- The official overseeing the search effort of the capsized Costa Concordia has acknowledged it would take a miracle to find any survivors from the Jan. 13 cruise ship grounding.
Franco Gabrielli, head of the national civil protection agency, told reporters Wednesday that recovery operations would nevertheless continue until the ship, which is half-submerged off the Tuscan island of Giglio, was searched as much as possible.
Operations continued Wednesday as crews set off more explosions on the submerged third floor deck to allow easier access for divers. On Tuesday, the body of a woman was found on the deck.
Rescuers have found 16 bodies. At least six of the bodies remain unidentified, and are presumed to be among some of the 17 passengers and crew still unaccounted for.
Citing Italian civil protection officials, NBC News reports that a woman was identified Wednesday, but no name has been released yet. Officials also said that bodies may have floated away in recent days and that it may take more time to find victims of the accident.? Divers are now limited to searching for 20 minutes at a time as a result of poor conditions.
Workers kept up preparations to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the ship before it leaks into the Tuscan sea. Pumping is expected to begin Saturday, and according to officials, tests will begin Wednesday.
Spokesman Martin Schuttevaer said "based on what we have seen the position of the tanks are in line with what we expected."
The Concordia ran aground and capsized off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13 after the captain veered from his planned course and gashed the ship's hull on a reef, forcing the panicked evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew.
On Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Italy David Thorne was at Giglio's port with relatives of two missing Americans, Gerald and Barbara Heil of Minnesota. The Heil's children posted on their blog Monday that they are still waiting for word about their parents. The Heils are the only Americans missing in the wreck.
Survivors of the Costa Concordia are realizing the limits of their legal claims, as they signed away their rights when they bought their tickets. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports on what travelers should know.
The search and rescue operation will continue in tandem with the fuel removal operation.
Officials have identified an initial six tanks that will be tapped, located in a relatively easy-to-reach area of the ship. Franco Gabrielli, head of the national civil protection agency, told reporters Tuesday that once the tanks are emptied, 50 percent of the fuel aboard the ship will have been extracted.
The pumping will continue 24 hours a day barring rough seas or technical glitches in this initial phase, he said.
Officials at Smit, the Dutch salvage company hired to remove the fuel, say the first thing divers will do is drill holes into the tanks and attach valves onto them. The sludge-like oil will then be heated and hoses attached to the valves to suck out the oil as seawater is pumped into displace it.
"This is a complicated operation," Gabrielli warned. Smit has estimated the extraction operation could last a month.
Giglio and its waters are part of a protected seven-island marine park, favored by VIPs and known for its clear waters and porpoises, dolphins and whales.
The disaster prompted the U.N. cultural organization to ask the Italian government to restrict access of large cruise ships to Venice, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO charged that the liners cause water tides that erode building foundations, pollute the waterways and are an eyesore.
DigitalGlobe
The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. At least 15 people died in the accident, and rescuers continue to search for others missing.
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The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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