THE diving fraternity says illegal salvage operators may also attempt to cannibalise lesser-known shipwrecks for components if there are no efforts to preserve them.
HMS Banka, a 623-tonne minesweeper that was once described by divers as an amazing wreck, has been cleared from the seabed by scavengers.
Located 38km north of Pulau Tioman, HMS Banka had served the Eastern Fleet of the British Royal Navy before it was hit by a mine some 21 nautical miles north of the island on Dec 10, 1941.
The mine belt also sunk two Dutch submarines, O16 and K17, which were based in Singapore under the command of the British Eastern Fleet during World War 2. The wreckage of O16, a 40m submarine, lies upright at a depth of 59m, 1.6km away from K17.
However, the major shipwrecks in the South China Sea are HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales. Their sites are a favourite among divers, who describe them as being among the world’s greatest wreck diving experience.
O16 was the first submarine in the world equipped with a snorkel system. It was 76m long and could dive as deep as 80m. Its wreckage was located and identified in October 1995.
K17, found by fishermen in 1978 before it was identified some four years later, sunk with 36 crewmen to a depth of 55m. It lies upright a nautical mile away from HMS Banka.
The wreckage of the 56,000-tonne Swedish Seven Skies supertanker, built in 1965, sits upright at a depth of 64m. The 262m-long ship sunk following a fire. Scavengers have blown off its top housing and bridge, making the shipwreck too deep for recreational divers to reach.