GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) ? The wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia could remain where it lies near the Tuscan island of Giglio until the end of the year before it can be broken up or salvaged, the official in charge of the recovery operation said on Sunday.
Divers searching for bodies on the hulk, which lies half submerged just a few meters from the shore, suspended work on Sunday after heavy seas and strong winds caused the vessel to shift noticeably, Italian authorities said.
Bad weather had already delayed plans to begin removing the 2,300 tones of diesel fuel in the ship's tanks, an operation expected to take from three weeks to a month once it eventually gets under way, probably by the middle of next week.
Civil Protection agency chief Franco Gabrielli, the official in charge of the operation, said that it could be another 7-10 months before the massive wreck is finally removed from its position outside the port.
"We already knew that this was a very long, drawn out case but I think it's important that everyone is very aware that it will have a very significant timeframe," he told reporters.
Work on salvaging or moving the ship cannot begin until the fuel and lubricating oil is removed and the risk of an environmental disaster is averted and much preliminary work will have to be done before a decision on how to proceed is reached.
Divers found a 17th victim on Saturday, the body of a woman identified as a member of the crew, leaving 15 people still missing after the disaster on January 13.
The search was halted on Sunday after measuring instruments placed on board the 290 meter long ship showed some 3.5 centimeters of movement in six hours, compared with a normal movement of one or two millimeters.
Officials have said it is stable and faces little immediate risk of sliding from its resting place in some 20 meters of water into deeper waters.
But even the slight movements posed a risk to divers exploring the ship's dark interior, which is filled with floating debris, including furniture, bedding, curtains and the personal effects of passengers and crew.
VERY UPSET
The disaster struck when the 14,500-tonne Concordia hit a rock which gashed its hull and caused it to sink after it sailed to within 150 meters of the shore to perform a display maneuver known as a "salute."
Its captain, Francesco Schettino, faces charges of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship before the evacuation of more than 4,200 passengers and crew was complete.
"The captain is well, he's reflecting on what happened and he is profoundly upset," his lawyer Bruno Leporatti said after meeting his client, who is under house arrest near Naples.
An extended legal battle is now in prospect after lawyers in the United States and Italy launched class action and individual suits against the ship's owner Costa Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corp, the world's biggest cruise operator.
Schettino has said he accepts his share of responsibility for the accident but says he was in constant touch with Costa Cruises during evacuation operations which have been widely criticized as slow and uncoordinated.
"What hurts the most is that there would have been time to save everybody of the order to evacuate had been given more quickly and not an hour and a half after the impact," said Maria Cristina Meduri, a passenger who escaped from the wreck.
She returned with her husband to Giglio on Sunday to thank local people who helped with shelter and warm clothing in the aftermath but she was bitterly critical of Costa, which is offering 11,000 euros in compensation - and will reimburse the ticket and other travel costs - in return for an agreement to drop any legal action.
"No, we will not accept it, it's nothing at all," she said. "I left objects with inestimable sentimental value on the ship, like the diamond engagement ring my husband gave me. We're not going to accept this."
(Additional reporting by Laura Viggiano in Naples; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Alison Williams)
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