GIGLIO, Italy - Rough seas off the Tuscan coast have delayed for a second day the start of operations to remove half a million gallons of fuel from the grounded Costa Concordia.
Officials called off the fuel removal and search operations yesterday after determining the ship had moved 1 1/2 inches over six hours.
Riccardo Fanti, University of Florence professor, said the movements could be caused by the ship settling on its own weight or slipping into the seabed.
Recovery operations Saturday yielded a 17th body, identified as Peruvian crew member Erika Soria Molina.
Fifteen crew and passengers remain missing.
The Concordia, with 4,200 people aboard, ran aground on Jan. 13 after the captain deviated from his planned route and gashed the hull of the ship on a reef.
Salvage crews have inspected the liner and installed valves in four of the six outer tanks, which contain two-thirds of the fuel aboard the ship. Two more valves must be installed on outer tanks.
Once all the valves are in place, pumping out the fuel in the outer tanks is expected to take at least 28 days.
Draining inner tanks, which are harder to reach, is expected to take longer.