Million Hope Wreck

The largest wreck in the Red Sea. The 175 m Japanese bulk carrier MV Million Hope, built in Hiroshima in 1972 and carrying potash and phosphates from Aqaba, lost power and slammed into the fringing reef at Nabq Bay on 20 June 1996 while crossing the Strait of Tiran. All 25 Filipino crew were rescued. The hull broke its back, rolled to starboard against the reef wall, and now runs from a shattered bow above the surface to a stern propeller at 28 m. Divers usually drop in at the stern crane, encrusted with soft coral and curtained by glassfish, then drift forward over five cavernous holds. Lionfish, scorpionfish, crocodilefish, fusiliers, batfish, and snappers work the rails; nudibranchs and bluespotted stingrays show up along the silted decks.