침몰선 '코스타 콘코르디아호', 마지막 항해하다 Costa Concordia embarks on its last voyage VIDEO
Costa Concordia embarks on its last voyage: Italian cruise liner finally heads home to Genoa where it will be broken up for scrap
Four tugboats and several escort ships were lined up to tow the 114,000-tonne vessel
It is being taken to a port near Genoa in northern Italy where it is due to arrive on Sunday
The once-gleaming white luxury liner sank off the holiday island of Giglio in January 2012
32 people died in the disaster after the ship struck rocks and capsized
What followed was the most daunting - and expensive - salvage operation ever attempted
Environmental groups have grave concerns warning the operation could be a 'maritime Chernobyl'
Indian waiter Russel Rebello is still missing, but authorities are hopeful that his body may be found
By Leon Watson and Hannah Roberts
The Costa Concordia has started its final voyage to the scrapheap today two-and-a-half years after it struck rocks and capsized, killing 32 people.
Maneouvres began early this morning to remove the cruise liner's rusty hulk from the Italian island of Giglio where the disaster happened.
A convoy of 14 vessels, led by the tug boat Blizzard, then started to tow the Concordia to a port near Genoa in northern Italy where it is due to arrive on Sunday, before being broken up for scrap.
On Giglio there was a carnival-like atmosphere as half the island turned out to pay homage to the ship. The church bells rang out and villagers and tourists cheered in unison as salvage workers came off shift for the last time.
A gang of six divers and welders from Titan, the US-led salvage company, sprayed champagne and lit cigars while posing for selfies in their hard hats and onesies.
'Make sure you get the Costa Concordia in the background cause we f***ing did it!', one yelled.
But on Corsica environmental campaigners have warned of the risk of a 'maritime Chernobyl'.
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