The Kingdom of Bahrain, a country with a population of 1.2 million people located between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, has purposely buried a Boeing 747 underwater in order to attract tourists and divers to examine the wreck.
So, what’s the story?
“Dive Bahrain,” an underwater theme park spanning around 10,000 square meters, has a Boeing 747, along with a recreation of a Bahrain Merchants Pearl House, Artificial Coral Reefs, and many similar sculptures.
As a result, undersea tourism is being promoted, as is increased environmental awareness of marine life.
Good For Environment
Like this, They’ve been cases of submerged jets before, to provide a safe haven for marine life.
In 1993, a Boeing 727 jet was submerged off the coast of Miami.
Furthermore, in January 2017, a decommissioned Air Canada Boeing 737, was submerged in the Stuart Channel near Chemainus, British Columbia.
Wreck diving being the oldest form for constructing artificial coral reefs, may endanger it due to the exposure of corrosion and heavy metals released from such submerged wrecks, as they lose their structural integrity over time.
However, the BETA( Bahrain exhibition and tourist agency) did clarify the fact that, the aircraft was specially prepared before being submerged, thereby adhering to strict environmental standards and promoting the local marine ecosystem in the area.
History of the Aircraft
According to planespotters.net, this massive Boeing 747 was initially delivered to British Airways as G-BDXN and then operated as 9M-MHJ with Malaysia Airlines until 1996.
The plane was subsequently leased back and forth between Air Atlanta Icelandic and Malaysia Airlines as TF-AAA until it was decommissioned in 2010 and kept at Fujairah International Airport in 2013.
Is It Open to Public
According to divebahrain.com, those interested are required to contact the list of registered diving centres on the website, the diving centres would later organise the trip. But for now, only qualified Divers are able to visit the wreck.
Although, If you are a qualified diver and reside close to Bahrain, All that’s left is to contact the diving centres and enjoy the Boeing 747 wreck. With the Covid -19 Pandemic around, I think you would be safe in the sea.
Despite the fact that these massive structures have carried millions of people over the world and held memories for many, they have remained intact and offer a new ecology and life to the coral reefs.
I hope that more countries take similar initiatives to provide these magnificent machines with a new home and a chance to survive.
