Costa Concordia fuel removal operation nearly complete

— -- Operations to remove 500,000 gallons of fuel from the Costa Concordia will be completed today, Costa Cruises said.

The fuel removal operation began on Feb. 12 and has continued almost around-the-clock when weather and sea conditions were favorable. The operation is being carried out by a Dutch salvage team hired by Costa that is using a system of pumps and valves to remove fuel from 17 tanks.

The five-year-old Concordia partially sank on January 13 after hitting rocks near Giglio, a tiny island about 18 miles off the Tuscan coast. So far, 30 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage, with two people still missing and presumed dead.

Sergio Ortelli, the mayor of Giglio, said in a statement that environmental testing had confirmed "our waters are still crystalline, [and] we can now look to the future with greater peace of mind."

Costa said it would continue onto the next stages of the salvage mission, which include the operation to remove the wreck entirely. Costa predicted the removal would take from 10 to 12 months.

This item was written by Johanna Jainchill, who covers the travel industry for Travel Weekly.