Malaysia detains Chinese ship suspected of looting British WW2 wrecks

[Social Media]

BBC News

 

Malaysia has detained a Chinese-registered vessel suspected of looting two British World War Two shipwrecks.

The bulk carrier was seized on Sunday for anchoring illegally at the site in the South China Sea.

Ammunition believed to be from the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, which were sunk by Japanese forces more than 80 years ago, was then found on board.

The UK Ministry of Defence had earlier condemned the alleged raid as a "desecration" of maritime war graves.

Old shipwrecks are targeted by scavengers for their rare low-background steel, also known as "pre-war steel". The low radiation in the steel makes it a rare and valuable resource for use in medical and scientific equipment.

[billd766]

Now scuttle the Chinese ship, but nowhere near HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse.

[stevenl]

A Dutch wargrave in the java sea recently totally disappeared. Sad state of affairs.

[Olav Seglem]

Getting further and further between each time hearing chinese doing "good deeds"..

[bendejo]

Saw a documentary not long ago about China mapping the ocean floor in the Pacific area.  It centered on how they are seeking mineral resources, looks like people who made the film weren't thinking about scavenging wrecks, but the Chinese are.

When I traveled the Indonesia area I came across names of places I had only heard in the WWII movies I saw when I was a kid.  We can only imagine what's down there.

 

 

[Tug]

Take their boat and make a reef out of it

[klauskunkel]

14 hours ago, Social Media said:

Malaysia has detained a Chinese-registered vessel suspected of looting two British World War Two shipwrecks.

looking for engines they can adapt for their submarines