Malta: eight new wrecks made available!

Eight new deep-sea wrecks have been made available to divers visiting Malta. The release of the new positions was announced by The Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit, part of Malta’s Ministry of Tourism, which monitors and coordinates all wreck activity.

Among the new wrecks that we will now be able to visit, there are 3 aircraft and 5 vessels. Poles should be particularly interested in the fact that among the vessels made available, there is the famous escort destroyer ORP “Kujawiak” L 72.

-- Advertisement --

In terms of aircraft, the list includes the wreck of a German Junkers Ju 88 bomber at a depth of 60 metres near Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, a British Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber biplane at a depth of 55 metres and the still unidentified wreck of a flying boat at a depth of about 90 metres.

Of the shipwrecks, apart from the ORP “Kujawiak”, which is at a depth of about 90 metres, the diving community has been given access to three Royal Navy vessels. These are HMS ‘Russel’, sunk in 1916 and lying at a depth of 114 metres, HMS ‘Nasturtium’, also sunk in 1916, whose wreck is at a depth of 67 metres and HMS ‘Trusty Star’, sunk in 1942, lying at a depth of 85 metres.

The list of eight wrecks is completed by the British steamer SS “Luciston”, sunk in the autumn of 1916, the wreck of which is accessible to advanced divers who can afford to dive to a depth of 105 metres.

Due to the regulations in force in Malta, dives on the above mentioned wrecks must be carried out through one of the nearly 60 diving centres operating in Malta. Detailed fees are not yet known, however it is already known that both the dive centre and the vessel operator will need to hold a special permit and be on the AIS automatic identification system.

According to available information, a further four wrecks are awaiting access and will soon be opened to the international diving community, while a further three (including two aircraft), previously unknown vessels, were discovered during the exploration of the seabed for the construction of the Malta-Sicily gas pipeline.

Source: divernet.com