A Japanese merchant ship that sank during World War II and was carrying greater than 1,000 Allied prisoners of war has been found, authorities said on Saturday.
The Montevideo Maru was torpedoed on July 1, 1942 off the coast of the Philippines by an American submarine whose crew was unaware that the ship was carrying prisoners of war.
It was Australia’s biggest naval loss of the war with a total of 1,080 casualties.
A 12-day seek for the island of Luzon within the South China Sea by a team of explorers using an autonomous underwater vehicle with built-in sonar took them 13,120 feet below the ocean surface – deeper than the Titanic – to find the wreck.
“The extraordinary effort behind this discovery speaks to the enduring truth of Australia’s solemn national promise to all the time remember and honor those that have served our country,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
No effort can be made to remove the human stays and artifacts out of respect for the families of those that died, in keeping with a statement Saturday by the Sydney-based Silentworld Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to archeology and marine history.
The group participated within the mission together with the Dutch deep-sea research specialists Fugro and the Australian Department of Defense.
The Montevideo Maru was carrying prisoners and civilians who had been captured after the autumn of Rabaul, Papua Recent Guinea.
Among the many dead were 1,080 people from 14 countries, including 979 Australians.
With postal wires.