Raising of Costa Concordia taking place Monday morning

Process dangerous and rare

Salvage and government workers have been working at the site completing various tasks since the day after the ship turned on her side, killing 32 people.

The process being used is called parbuckling and it's how the United States military righted the USS Oklahoma after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Sloane noted the most difficult and chancy part of the process will be the very beginning.

The man in charge of the operation is salvage master Nicholas Sloane.

"We are doing the final testing at the moment, all the pre-tension tests have been completed and are successful, now it is just the ballistic control systems for the buoyancy tanks and that will be finished late tonight, early tomorrow morning," he told Sky News HD .

"We are not sure about the actual weight and how much the rocks are going to hold onto her. So that is a critical point as when we start up we will watch all the accelerometers and we want to increase the tension very slowly until she comes off the rocks," he noted.

It’s the first time an operation of this magnitude has been tried this close to land making matters even more dangerous.

If the ship is re-floated she will be towed away and cut up for scrap.