Off the coast of the Philippines found the Japanese ship Montevideo Maru from World War II. It was sunk by the United States with 1,060 prisoners on board, including about 900 Australian troops and civilians from 14 countries, the Silentworld Foundation, which was involved in the search, said. The discovery of the ship was confirmed on Twitter by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Montevideo Maru was sunk on 1 July 1942 by an American submarine. This tragedy is considered the largest maritime disaster in Australian history. The ship was found at a depth of more than 4 thousand meters off the coast of the Philippines. It took Silentworld about five years to prepare the search, according to press release organizations. The search was assisted by the Dutch company Fugro, specializing in deep-sea research, as well as the Australian Department of Defense.
The search began on April 6 in the South China Sea, 110 km northwest of the Philippine island of Luzon. On April 18, the location of the remains of the vessel was recorded, which was confirmed, among other things, using an autonomous underwater vehicle with a built-in sonar. “It took several days to verify the wreck with expert analysis by a design team that included maritime archaeologists, restorers, operations and research specialists, and former naval officers,” the Silentworld Foundation added.
