MS Zenobia: the impressive wreck of a ship that sank with 108 trucks on board

@ElentirENG ES 11·26·2022 · 23:26 0

At the bottom of the sea there are many fascinating things and, as you can see in this image, they even seem taken from a surreal work of art.

Kwajalein: a huge graveyard with about 160 World War II aircraft at the bottom of the sea
The M-4 Sherman tanks submerged in the sea off the coast of the island of Saipan

This image is taken from one of the largest wrecks in the Mediterranean Sea: a RO-RO ship called MS Zenobia, with 172 meters long and 28 meters wide, and a displacement of 10,000 tons. She was built in Sweden, being launched on August 11, 1979. It belonged to the Swedish shipping company Rederi AB Nordö, and on her maiden voyage it set sail from the port of Malmö, Sweden, on May 1980, carrying 108 cargo trucks bound for the port of Tartous, in Syria. After making three stops in Greece, the ship began to list to port when she was sailing to Athens, due to a problem with the ballasts. After solving the problem, the ship continued her journey towards Larnaca, in Cyprus.

On June 2, 1980, already in the Cypriot port, the ship listed to port again due to a software error in the water pumps of her ballast systems. Fearing that the ship would sink in the harbor and block it, she towed it about 1,500 meters offshore, where the list reached 45º on June 5. Finally, in the early morning of June 6-7, 1980, the ship capsized and sank with all her cargo. Her destination port (Syria) has caused them to circulate all kinds of theories about a possible sabotage. Her wreck is located one and a half kilometers from Larnaca, at a depth of 42 meters, so she has become a very attractive place for divers.

A month ago, the YouTube channel Rebs Tries It posted a fascinating video on the that we can see several divers exploring the wreck of the MS Zenobia:

If you wish, you can see a longer version of the video here (30 minutes). Next we see some captures of the video, by way of introduction. Here one of the ship's huge propellers.

Some of the 108 trucks that sank with the ship. When they capsized, they were impossible to recover.

Another impressive image of the trucks sunk with the MS Zenobia.

As seen in this image, despite having spent 42 years under the sea, the tires of this truck still retain their tread.

An image of the ship's navigation bridge.