55 years after it sank, killing 21 men, Australian scientists have finally located the shipwreck of the MV Noongah. According to the BBC, the huge freighter was carrying steel off the coast of New South Wales when it sank in rough seas in 1969, killing 21 of the 26 crew members on board. The incident sparked one of the biggest maritime searches in Australian history but the remains of 20 of the dead were never recovered. Now, MV Noongah has finally been found more than a half-century after it was lost at sea, Australian scientists announced on Thursday.
The location of the wreck was confirmed by Australia's science agency CSIRO, using high-resolution seafloor mapping and video footage. As per a press release, one of the agency's research vessels investigated the wreck in June and determined that, after almost 55 years, the ship was largely intact and situated in an upright position at the bottom of the ocean, roughly 550 feet below the surface. A dive team then explored the wreck up close to confirm its identity.
The Sydney Project - which finds and documents the wrecks of lost ships - is now planning a dive to collect additional vision from the site, in the hope of shedding light on why the ship sank.
"This tragedy is still very much in the memory of many in the community," CSIRO's Matt Kimber said, per the BBC. "We hope that knowing the resting place of the vessel brings some closure for all," he added.
For 55 years, the researchers struggled to find MV Noongah. On the day the ship went down, its crew tried for hours to keep the vessel afloat before eventually abandoning it about 30 minutes before the ship sank completely. The radio operator sent out a distress signal around then, which prompted one of the largest search and rescue operations ever carried out in Australia.
Over the next 12 hours, officials found two men at sea in two separate life rafts, and three more clinging to a plank of wood. However, the fate of the rest of the crew and the ship itself has been a mystery ever since.
Notably, locals had spotted the shipwreck years ago in the water off the coast of South West Rocks, about 460 kilometres north of Sydney. However, the lack of technology or diving knowledge needed to identify the wreck stopped the endeavour.
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Now, a half-century after the incident, the CSIRO located the location of the shipwreck. Samir Alhafith, who was part of the mission to find the wreck, said in a statement that knowing the ship's location may provide opportunities to answer some of those questions.
"Not only is the discovery of these significant wrecks important for the surviving sailors and families of those that perished during the tragedy but also it allows us to investigate the mystery behind the sinking," Mr Alhafith said.
Others involved in the project to locate the Noongah said they hope knowing where it is will provide a level of closure to those who knew the crew members lost at sea.
