
It's nearly five years to the day that the Italian cruise ship the Costa Concordia capsized, killing 32 people.

The vessel, carrying 4,252 people, met a tragic end in January 2012 when it hit an underwater rock off Isola del Giglio near Tuscany.

Now, half a decade on, the wreckage of the tragic ship is being dismantled in the port of Genoa.

The 144,500-tonne ship is unrecognisable as workmen rip it apart for scraps.

The rusty metal structure acts a sombre reminder of the tragedy in which 32 people were trapped aboard and drowned - the death-toll making it Italy's worst maritime disaster since the Second World War.

At the ship's helm was Francesco Schettino, dubbed 'Captain Coward' after he fled the boat before its 4,200 passengers were safely ashore.

He was sentenced to 16 years in jail for manslaughter.

The wreckage of the tragic Costa Concordia is being dismantled so its parts can be used for scraps at the port of Genoa. Pictured on Friday, five years to the day from the disaster

A view of the damaged decks of Italian cruise liner which capsized, killing 32 people, on January 13 2012. Photographed here last year before the ship started to be torn apart for scraps

The 144,500-tonne ship is unrecognisable as workmen rip it apart for scraps at Genoa Harbour in Italy five years after it sank

The rusty metal structure acts a somber reminder of the tragedy in which 32 people were trapped aboard and drowned

The death-toll makes it Italy's worst maritime disaster since the Second World War and the captain Francesco Schettino was sentenced to 16 years for manslaughter

The 54-year-old was given ten years for manslaughter, five for causing a shipwreck, one for abandoning ship, and a further month for giving false information to port authorities

A court heard that Schettino was a 'reckless idiot' who had been showing off to a waiter on board the ship, and a friend on Giglio island, when he steered the ship close to the shore on the night of January 13

It took months for rescue divers to scour the wreckage of the Costa Concordia for the remains of those who died on board

The vessel, which ran aground in seas near the Tuscan isle of Giglio in 2012, leading to 32 deaths, was pulled 10 miles across a port in Genoa in May last year so it could be scrapped

Francesco Schettino, dubbed 'Captain Coward' after he fled the ship before its 4,200 passengers were safely ashore, was sentenced to 16 years in jail for manslaughter

A picture from February 2012 showing firefighters towing an abandoned life raft from the capsized cruise liner off the west coast of Italy at Isola del Giglio

Costa Concordia in May 2016 being pulled by tug boats to transport it to Genoa where it is currently being dismantled

Before the disaster: The Costa Concordia pictured in March 2009 in Civitavecchia, a port in Rome where it would pick up passengers

An aerial view shows the Costa Concordia as it lies on its side in the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy taken from an Italian navy helicopter in this August 26, 2013

Pictured here a day after it capsized in 2012 the luxury cruise ship leans on its starboard side off the port at Giglio near Tuscany