
Rusted and rotting, these ghostly photographs show the brittle remains of the Costa Concordia - the once grandiose cruise liner that sank off the coast of Italy in 2012, killing 32 people.

The luxury liner, which was carrying 4,200 passengers at the time, ran aground off the island of Giglio after an ill-judged ‘salute’ by the ship’s captain.

Inside the ship's theatre, only the metal supports of what were once comfortable seats remain, while the stage is in pieces and speakers are covered with rust.

The inside of the Costa Concordia, four years after the deadly disaster, is covered in bright green and blue coral and moss

Sea plants are seen over the walls and ceiling of one of the ship's entertainment rooms, which once hosted thousands of people

Pieces of the ship's interior can be seen rotting and rusting after it smashed into a rock and sank in 2012 while off the coast of Italy

Hundreds of pieces of debris are seen in one of the ship's rooms, while wiring, left untouched since the ship grounded, hang down

Grime and other sea debris hang from the ship's support frames inside what was once the ship's casino room

For more than three years the doomed ship lay on its side where it had crashed, a chilling reminder of the 32 lives lost.

These stunning images are contained in a new book, named Concordia, which has been published by White Press, and features photos by Jonathan Danko Kielkowski and words by Christoph Schaden.

The haunting photographs show how corridors once filled with thousands of people have become unrecognisable after the harsh salt water which filled its rooms corroded its interior.

Inside its stairwells, what appears to be coral gives off an illuminating green glow as it spreads over the ceiling, while debris still lies scattered nearby.

Another photograph shows an empty bar with a row of stools where merry drinkers once sat and chatted are now covered in orange rust.

Thirty-two people were killed when the ship ran aground in the seas near the Tuscan island of Giglio in 2012, making it Italy's worst maritime disaster since the Second World War.

After a rock carved a hole in the side of the ship and flooded its engines, the 144,500-tonne liner listed a trapped passengers inside. The captain of the cruise ship was sentenced to 16 years in jail for manslaughter.

Francesco Schettino, dubbed 'Captain Coward' after he fled the ship before the 4,200 passengers were safely ashore, was handed the sentence last year in Grosseto, Tuscany.

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.

A rusting and rotting slots machine is pictured lying on its side in a room abandoned on January 13, 2012, when the ship began listing

A close up photograph of the casino shows the slot machines lying empty with their doors hanging open

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.

But despite the guilty verdict in February, Schettino remains a free man and still has the right to two legal appeals which can take years to process, meaning he may never see the inside of a cell.

It wasn’t until May 2015 that the cruise liner was towed away from its resting place, travelling more than 10 miles to a port in Genoa so it could finally be scrapped.

It became the most expensive maritime wreck recovery in history, with salvage and scrapping efforts estimated to have cost roughly £1.2billion.

Hundreds of casino chips, which are now worthless, lie scattered across the floor next to the ship's grand piano

The images are taken from a book by Jonathan Danko Kielkowski. Named Concordia, it features the photographs he took by swimming out to the wrecked cruise liner