Environmentalists fear seepage as Concordia is towed away

2014-07-16 18

Environmentalists closely monitor the Costa Concordia as it prepares to be towed away.

The cruise liner sank off the Italian coast two-and-a-half years ago.

It is still filled with all the products that would have been aboard at the time of sailing.

Environmental agencies have been worried that petrol and cleaning products could leak into the sea.

But head of monitoring for the environmental group Arpat says, so far, there has been no seepage.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) OFFICIAL HEADING CONCORDIA MONITORING FOR REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AGENCY ARPAT, MARCELLO MOSSA VERRE, SAYING:

"There may be a problem if one of the containers holding materials breaks and it seeps through for some reason. But seeing the way the operation has been carried out I don't foresee any problems."

Engineers at a news conference Tuesday confirmed that everything was going according to plan.

But environmentalists will continue to monitor the ship throughout its fi

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