Costa Concordia disaster

The Costa Concordia left Civitavecchia at about 7:33pm local time (1833 GMT). Automatic positioning data from Dutch firm QPS shows how the ship sails towards the island of Giglio - and what happens next.

At about 9:40pm, nearly three hours after leaving port, the Costa Concordia hit a rocky outcrop as it sailed past the island of Giglio. The ship was holed on the left-hand side and began to tilt as it started taking on water.

The positioning data shows the captain tried to turn the Costa Concordia back towards the island's port soon after 10:00pm. It seems the ship then began to list in the opposite direction, possibly caused by water in the damaged hull rushing to the far side during the turn.

At 10:12pm, the coastguard called the crew after passengers contacted police on land to say the ship had experienced problems. In a recording of the conversation, the crew member can be heard saying: "We have a blackout and we are checking the conditions on board."

As the ship lay sideways on the island's rocks, the abandon ship order was given at 10:58pm, according to the official charge sheet.

Most passengers escaped in lifeboats, but evacuation efforts were hampered by the angle of the tilting ship. The coastguard launched boats and helicopters to carry stranded passengers to safety.

The captain is reported to have left the ship in a lifeboat before all the passengers had been rescued. In another conversation, recorded at 12:42am, a coastguard commander ordered the captain to get back on board. He did not, and went ashore.

The rescue continued over the weekend, with the ship's safety officer, Marrico Giampietroni, being discovered and evacuated with a broken leg at 12:00pm on Sunday. A South Korean couple were also rescued.

Costa Concordia: What happened

Captain Francesco Schettino, now under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter, said the rocks were not marked on maps and were not detected by navigation systems. He later admitted making a navigational error, and told investigators he had "ordered the turn too late" as the ship sailed close to the island.

The ship's owners, Costa Cruises, said the captain had made an "unapproved, unauthorised" deviation in course, sailing too close to the island in order to show the ship to locals.

Crash investigation

Automatic tracking systems show the route of the Costa Concordia until it ran aground on 13 January. Data from 14 August last year shows the ship followed a similar course close to the shoreline, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence. On 6 January this year, it passed through the same strait but sailed much further from the island.

Investigators have recovered the "black box" system similar to those used by aircraft, that record voices on the bridge, as well as radar position and other data, which they hope will explain how the incident happened.

Divers have been searching the ship as it rests on the seabed in about 20m of water. The operation has been suspended a number of times as the ship has shifted position. The sea floor eventually drops to about 100m.

Removing the oil

Before salvage work can begin to refloat or remove the Costa Concordia, there are 2,400 tonnes of fuel in its tanks which need to be extracted.

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The Dutch salvage firm Smit has brought a barge alongside the ship as divers install external tanks that will collect the diesel. Work to remove the oil is expected to start soon and could take up to four weeks.

There are between 15-20 oil tanks that need draining. They are located against the outer wall which means salvage teams can attach a valve to the outside of the ship and drill in to reach the oil, without the oil escaping - a process known as hot-tapping.

As the ship is no longer functioning, the heavy fuel oil can get thick and viscous, making it harder to pump.

To remedy this, a steam-heated element is put through the pipeline to warm the oil, making pumping much faster. The oil will be pumped to a barge and then to a larger offloading vessel.

Sucking out the oil creates a vacuum, so another hole is made lower down the tank to allow seawater to be pumped in, replacing the oil. This also ensures extracting the oil does not cause the ship to shift position on the seabed.