Here's a set of updates edited from Wikipedia:


On 22 March another 5 bodies were discovered in a remote section of the ship believed to be in the ship's hull. Details have not been revealed about the victims' sex or ages or when they can be removed from the water.

Thirty bodies have now been discovered …(in and about the wreck), with two people still missing and presumed dead, including an American couple from Minnesota, Barbara and Gerald Heil.

The defueling operation was completed on 24 March.

(Now that defueling is complete):

… removal of the wreck can begin. On 3 February, Franco Gabrielli, the head of the Civil Protection Authority, told a meeting of residents of Giglio that the ship "will be refloated and removed whole" and not cut up for scrap. Costa invited 10 firms to bid for the contract to salvage the ship. Proposed removal plans will be assessed jointly with the Civil Protection Scientific Committee. Six bids were submitted in early March, and after deciding on a proposal in March or April, Costa will award the contract to the winner. Earlier, the CEO of Costa had stated that after the breaches in the hull are sealed, the ship could be refloated, with difficulty, by giant inflatable buoys and then tugged away. The shipyard where she was built, Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yards in Italy, is located less than 400 km (250 miles; 220 nautical miles) north of the disaster site. No word has yet been given as to if the ship will be towed back to its original yard, or if it will then be scrapped or refurbished. The recovery will be the largest ever ventured. The salvage will take from 7 to 10 months, depending on weather and sea conditions.

Charley Noble