Greek divers have discovered an unidentified shipwreck at technical-diving depth off the Aegean island of Kythnos.
The 40m-long wreck lies 110m deep to the west of the island, and was found by wreck-researcher Kostas Thoktaridis and his team using an ROV. He reported that the ship showed signs of having sunk very quickly following a powerful explosion at the bow.
The stern had collapsed, and there was a 30m debris field around that part of the site including hull-plates and sections of deck. The wreck lay no higher than 3m above the seabed.
Thoktaridis described the vessel as likely to be “very old” and, with no sign of holds, probably a warship. He said that it would now be down to archival research to find out more about it. Video of the wreck can be seen on YouTube.
It was Thoktaridis and his team who earlier this year discovered the wreck of the 70m Italian cargo ship Taormina off Cape Sounion on mainland Greece, as reported on Divernet in March. The ship had sunk in 1891 to a similar depth to the latest find of 107m, not far from the team’s Lavrio base.
Thoktaridis, a professional diver since 1987, has run the Planet Blue Diving Centre in Lavrio for more than 30 years and started his other business, ROV Services, in 1999. Kythnos lies about 45km south-east of Lavrio.
Also on Divernet: Greece Offers Scuba Divers 91 Wrecks, Greek Wreck-Hunter Solves 1959 Mystery
