Engineers working to salvage the cruise ship Costa Concordia that ran aground off the island of Giglio in Italy, have been successful in setting the ship in upright position.

The engineers achieved the milestone about 20 months after the ship got stuck off the coast in Italy. The engineers used cables and metal boxes filled with water to roll the ship onto a platform in the operation that went on during the day Monday and continued into the night.

The Costa Concordia had capsized in January 2012 in an accident that claimed the lives of 32 people. The ship was declared to be completely upright soon after 04:00 local time on Tuesday morning. There was a great cheer from the people gathered at Giglio harbour as the ship was put upright by the engineers.

Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Authority explained the shit is now on the platform built on the sea bed. Franco Porcellacchia, leader of the technical team for Costa Cruise, the owner of the ship described the operation as perfect. He also said that no environmental spill was recorded.