Concordia righted

The blare of a ship's horn and cheers from the shore heralded the righting of the wreck of the Costa Concordia.

The end of the operation off the Italian coast came in the early hours of Tuesday.

It took a gruelling 19 hours to bring the ship fully upright, far longer than the 12 hours originally predicted.

This is how it started a day earlier.

The 114-and-a-half thousand tonne hulk was pulled upright by a series of jacks and cables.

Now it's sitting on platforms drilled into the sea bed to support it.

The wreck bears the scars of its time on the rocks off the island of Giglio where it went down with the loss of 32 lives.

There are clear signs of the damage to its structure.

The plan now is to stabilise the ship, which could take several months, then refloat it and tow it away for scrapping.

It's expected to be the most costly maritime salvage operation in history.

The bill so far is more than $800 million and rising.