The “monumental” operation to re-float and remove the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship will be the biggest and costliest ever of its kind, the company said today.

A barge carrying a crane and other equipment hitched itself to the toppled Costa Concordia, signalling the start of preliminary operations to remove a half-million gallons of fuel from the grounded cruise ship before it leaks into the pristine Tuscan sea.

Divers have resumed the search for 21 people still missing after a cruise ship capsized off the Tuscan coast.