Costa salvage effort complete

Timelapse footage taken at the scene of the successful Costa Concordia salvage operation shows the dramatic effort to move the stricken cruise liner onto its side.

Pictures: Costa Concordia operation complete off Italian island of Giglio

The operation to shift the stricken Costa Concordia ship from the rocks off the Italian island of Giglio has been completed.

The head of Italy's civil protection authority confirmed it took 19 hours to raise the capsized cruise liner onto its side.

Read: Costa Concordia salvage operation completed

The Costa Concordia salvage operation has been completed, the head of Italy's civil protection authority announced.

It took engineers 19 hours to raise the ship from its side.

"We are now ready to move to the next steps," engineers announced.

The Costa Concordia appears to be close to fully upright following a 20-hour process to shift the stricken cruise liner.

"Everything is going on according to plan," said the last operational update.

How the parbuckling process to right the Costa works

The process to right the Costa Concordia is known as parbuckling, a technical term for rotating a sunken vessel back into an upright position.

The operation involves engineers using jacks and steel pulleys to rotate the ship by 65 degrees.

Hollow metal boxes, which have been welded to the side of the ship, will be filled with water to help bring the Costa Concordia upright.

Once it is upright, engineers hope to attach an equal number of tanks filled with water on the other side to balance the ship.

The ship will eventually rest on a false seabed around 30 metres underwater, made out of a platform and cement-filled sandbags

Giglio islanders have turned out to watch the removal of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia from their shoreline, almost two years after it capsized there.

Experts fear the operation to salvage the stricken Costa Concordia could pollute the water as rotting food and chemicals seep out.

According to the Daily Telegraph, onboard the capsized ship there is:

• More than 24,000lbs of fish
• Nearly 5,500lbs of cheese
• 1,500 gallons of ice cream in tubs
• 24,000lbs of pasta
• 2,000lbs of onions

• More than 2,000 pots of jam
• Nearly 17,000 tea bags
• 17,000lbs of raw beef
• Nearly 11,000 eggs
• 2,346 hot dog buns
• 815lbs of rabbit meat

• More than 1,000 gallons of milk
• 18,000 bottles of wine
• 22,000 cans of Coca-Cola
• 1,000 bottles of extra virgin olive oil
• 46,000 miniature bottles of spirits