THE LAST piece of MSC Napoli was lifted on to one of two salvage barges moored off Branscombe beach at precisely 3.36pm on Thursday – two-and-a-half years after it was grounded on a sandbank there, split and crippled by raging

THE LAST piece of MSC Napoli was lifted on to one of two salvage barges moored off Branscombe beach at precisely 3.36pm this afternoon (Thursday) - two-and-a-half years after it was grounded on a sandbank there, split and crippled by raging seas on January 20, 2007.

The 100 ton piece was part of the "double bottom under the engine room" said Klaas Reinigert, joint owner of GR Maritime from Holland, which was formed to tackle the removal of the stern of the Napoli from its sticky clay resting place off the East Devon coast.

By next Friday nothing will be left to show where the wreck had lain. Salvage of the Napoli has cost in the region of �100 million, making it one of the costliest operations in the history of shipping salvage.

Mr Reinigert, who is 70 in September, described his feeling now the operation was almost over as "relief and relaxed. The tension has gone."

See next Friday's Sidmouth Herald for more news of the going of the Napoli.

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