Sunken ship removal project halted: report

[ROME] The mammoth project to refloat the doomed Costa Concordia cruise ship has been suspended until a decision is made over which port will scrap the wreck, Italian media said on Wednesday.

The ship's owner Costa has decided temporarily to halt the unprecedented project to float the 290-metre-long vessel, over environmental concerns raised by the body charged with overseeing the salvage, according to reports.

The supervisory body "requested supplementary information on the environmental impact", said Sergio Girotto, project manager for the Titan Micoperi salvage effort - prompting Costa to stop the works while it obtained more detailed information on the floating process.