"At that point, there was a meeting to discuss whether they had the means to tow or salvage the vessel, " he said.

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The four people on board were rescued by the lifeboat on Sunday and a salvage operation on the vessel was underway on Monday.

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"They wanted to claim the vessel for salvage, " Mosley said.

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The feed from a camera on board a salvage ship was discontinued Saturday after the apparatus was raised from the sea floor and placed on the vessel Q4000.

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The official report into the incident said that while an emergency salvage tug would not have prevented the initial grounding it would have made it possible to secure the vessel more quickly.

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Ship salvage experts had been forced to wait until Saturday morning for a high enough spring tide to refloat the vessel, after earlier attempts failed.

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The operation to right the Concordia is the biggest maritime salvage exercise ever undertaken with 111 divers working in shifts 24 hours a day from a floating accommodation support vessel tethered next to the wreck.

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Mr Clayton said they were waiting for more salvage equipment to be brought in and it was "extremely unlikely" there would be any attempt to move the vessel on Sunday.

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