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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Shaab Rumi location page.
Overview
Italian cargo ship scuttled by her crew in 1940 to keep her load of bombs and munitions from the British. The hull lies on her port side in 5 to 38 m, holds still packed with ordnance. Penetration is rewarding for trained wreck divers.
Briefing note
Live ordnance aboard — do not touch or disturb.
What you'll see
3 species curated- year-roundGlassfish
- year-roundLionfish
- year-roundNapoleon wrasse
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceGlassfish
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
The wreck
Ship history- Underwater cultural heritage
Freighter · Italy
Umbria
- Built
- 1912
- Sunk
- Jun 10, 1940
- Length
- 153 m
- Tonnage
- 9,396
- Diveable depth
- 5–38 m
- How she sank
- Scuttled / disposed
Italian motor ship scuttled by her captain in Port Sudan the moment Italy declared war on Britain, to prevent her cargo of 360,000 bombs and detonators from falling into Allied hands. She still rests on her port side with the lethal cargo intact.
Notable features
- aerial bombs in the holds
- Fiat 1100 Lunga cars
- bottles of wine
- engine telegraph
Vessel histories sourced from the Naval History and Heritage Command (DANFS), NOAA ENC Direct, and editorial research. Bathymetry per GEBCO. See the methodology for limits.
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 25–27 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Feb | 25–27 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Mar | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Apr | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| May | 27–29 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Jun | 28–30 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Jul | 29–31 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Aug | 29–31 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Sep | 28–30 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Oct | 27–29 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Nov | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Dec | 25–27 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kit- Dive light — Penetration into cargo holds and engine room — primary light essential.
Next step
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