Um El Faroud

The Um El Faroud is a 110-metre Libyan oil tanker, built in England in 1969. On 3 February 1995, while in dry dock in Grand Harbour, a gas explosion ripped through the ship and killed nine Maltese shipyard workers. Damaged beyond repair, she was scuttled off Wied iz-Żurrieq on 2 September 1998 as an artificial reef and dive site. A plaque on the bridge remembers the workers.

The wreck sits upright on sand, with the funnel at about 15 metres and the propeller at 36 metres. A storm in the winter of 2005-06 broke her in two along the line of the explosion damage. Doors and windows were removed before sinking, so there is plenty of penetration for trained wreck divers.

It is a shore dive from Wied iz-Żurrieq, about 150 metres to the south-west, passing a diving-helmet statue on the way. The depth and size call for careful air and decompression planning.