Napoli operation delayed

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Salvors were hoping to start unloading MSC Napoli yesterday but the task of mooring and securing a barge crane alongside her has delayed the task until tomorrow at the earliest.

Napoli is listing heavily a mile off Sidmouth, Devon, and the salvage team has to get close enough to her to begin offloading without causing more containers to fall and pollute the sea.

The lengthy process, expected to take up to five months, was expected to start tomorrow once a mooring wire has been replaced on the barge.

The operation has been likened by coastguards to the game of jenga - removing wooden blocks from a pile without toppling it.

The largest crane will remove the cargo - laden with everything from BMW motorbikes to nappies - in priority order starting at the ship's stern to reduce stress on Napoli's hull.

A smaller crane will then transfer the containers to a barge ready for transportation to Portland Port, Dorset, in batches of up to 90 a time.

The process would have taken just a few days in port but Napoli never made it that far.

She suffered hull damage in a mid Channel storm on January 18 when 26 crew were rescued after abandoning into a lifeboat.

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