Divers explode holes in stricken ship’s hull in race to search for 29 missing
Posted Jan 17, 2012 05:42:24 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
ROME – Italian naval divers have set off explosives to create four small openings in the hull of a cruise ship that grounded near a Tuscan island to speed the search for 29 missing passengers and crew.
Navy spokesman Alessandro Busonero told Sky TV 24 the micro-charges set early Tuesday created four openings to allow divers “…to enter easily for the search.”
The holes were made both above and below the water level.
Television footage showed the holes to be less than two meters (6 feet) in diameter.
Busonero said the rescuers were racing against time.
The cruise liner tragedy has turned into a potential environmental crisis, as rough seas battering the stricken ship raised fears that fuel might leak into pristine waters.
Italian officials have yet to explain why the number of people believed missing in the grounding of a cruise ship has jumped from 16 to 29.
A new worry is the possible leakage of fuel as the Costa Concordia is battered by heavy seas as it sits on its side, half-submerged off the Tuscan coast.
The death toll stands at six.
