Thursday, June 20, 2013
Two bodies have been discovered in Scapa Flow in Scotland’s Orkney Islands, 40 metres away from the wreckage of the SMS Brummer, a German war vessel scuttled during the aftermath of World War I. A Police Scotland spokesperson said the sighting, which was reportedly made by divers from the local area, was reported to the force at 10:40 BST (0940 UTC) yesterday.
The persons have yet to be formally identified, although it is thought the bodies are of two male divers from the Netherlands, who had been diving on May 28 on the remains of the ship. The failure of the divers to re-emerge above the water and the subsequent alert by the skipper of the divers’ boat prompted a large-scale search of the area, which was abandoned after two days as no sighting of the divers had been reported.
A Police Scotland dive unit at Aberdeen was alerted to the scene to assist with the retrieval of the bodies from the seabed. The divers’ next of kin have been told of the situation. The remains of ships such as the SMS Brummer reportedly make Scapa Flow a popular diving location.