The quest to sink the largest aircraft ever to be submerged, a 70-metre Boeing 747, is underway at an underwater theme park in Bahrain.
The eco-friendly underwater theme park is known as Dive Bahrain and will comprise of a 100,000 square metre dive site with the sunken Boeing 747 being its main attraction.
The first phase of the operation involved local and international divers and a fleet of tugboats working together to submerge the jet into the Arabian Gulf.
The Boeing 747 will rest at around 24 metres and will face nose up to give novice divers the chance to access the aircraft in shallower depths.
Prior to the submersion, the team worked for eight months making the aircraft eco-friendly by removing all plastic material and other potential hazards.
“Even the bolts and the screws were removed so that we could clean any oil residue, before putting them back on,” said Hamad Al Mahmeed, project manager at Dive Bahrain.
The plane was bought from an airline based in Dubai.
The site is due to open in August 2019 and will be the largest underwater theme park in the world, covering an area of 100,000 square metres.
Besides the Boeing 747 the underwater theme park will feature a replica of a traditional Bahraini pearl merchant’s house, sculptures made from eco-friendly materials and artificial coral reefs, designed to encourage marine life.
