It was the middle of a hard day's night when the wreck of the Costa Concordia was finally righted.<br/> <br />The operation that started on Monday morning off the Italian coast came to a successful conclusion early on Tuesday.<br/> <br />Relieved salvage workers got a heroes' welcome from residents on the island of Giglio who've lived with the wreck for 20 months.<br/> <br />After 19 tense hours bringing the wreck upright and off the rocky ledge where it had lain, the salvage teams were celebrating.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) SALVAGE MASTER NICHOLAS SLOANE, SAYING:<br/> <br />"We had a plan that we thought would come together and it did. We needed a bit of luck with the weather, we had some bad weather before we started and we got some bad weather coming tomorrow but in-between you plan, you prepare and you get lucky."<br/> <br />This is how one of the costliest and most complicated maritime salvage operations in history came about.<br/> <br />A series of huge jacks pulling on cables attached to the hull slowly ha
