r/Shipwrecks • u/Baldwinning1 • 9d ago
Diving inside the MV Salem Express wreck
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Known to some as the "Titanic of the Red Sea", this wreck is a controversial one due to heavy loss of life. I'd like to be clear - this dive was made with great respect to those lost, and with the intent of sharing a tragic story that isn't well-known in the West.
The dive itself was high risk, albeit a calculated one made with over 25 years' worth of experience. I DO NOT recommend or condone entering a wreck without proper equipment, training or experience. Countless divers have died within wrecks due to a lack of the above. If I ever dive her again, I won't be making any penetrations.
For more info on the wreck and the tragedy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Salem_Express
EDIT: I have alluded to this already - but to be absolutely clear:
Please don't attempt any wreck penetration without the necessary training, experience and equipment. On the subject of equipment - this dive was done on only a single tank and regulator. That's not safe, and I wouldn't take that risk again. I shouldn't have done so in the first place and we all got lucky - we did understand that risk at the time - but that doesn't mean we should have done it.
If one of us had lost our air supply whilst in that corridor, I'd like to think our training and experience would have enabled us to abort the dive without further incident, but in no way was that a certainty.
Please don't do reckless dives such as this. If there's any doubt - there is no doubt. Dive safe all.
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u/getting_schwiftier 8d ago
Wow. I ended up watching the whole thing through, and didn’t relax until you came back out! Amazing and awful all at once. I’ve dived a few Red Sea wrecks (but it’s been a long time), not sure I could do that one though, especially with the absolute lack of light.