Diving banned on Zenobia

Diving on one of the world's most famous wrecks, the Zenobia, which arguably is Cyprus' biggest dive attraction, has been banned by port authorities in a controversial move that is a devastating blow to the local dive industry

MS Zenobia was a 12,000 tonne 178-metre long RO-RO ferry launched in 1979 that capsized and sank close to Larnaca, Cyprus, in June 1980 on her maiden voyage, taking with it some €250 million worth of lorries, industrial machinery and other cargo.

Since sinking she has become a popular dive site for visitors to Cyprus and frequently named one of the world's top wreck dives.

The Zenobia provides a wide range of challenges to scuba divers, from a fairly simple dive to 16 metres (52 ft) depth along the starboard side of the ship (suitable for newly qualified divers); moving up to a more advanced dive inside the upper car deck and accommodation block, right up to extremely adventurous dives within the lower car deck or the engine room (which are only suitable for very experienced divers).

Although everybody was safely evacuated from the ship before she sank, four scuba divers have since lost their lives on the wreck.

Lawsuit
One of these divers was Catherine Vicar, 33, who was found unconscious in the engine room of the Zenobia shipwreck in October 2010. According to the Cyprus Mail, port authorities’ general director Yiannakis Kokkinos said that her family were “considering legal action against port authorities because they consider us responsible for her death”.

Larnaca mayor, Andreas Louroudjiadis has been quoted by Cyprus Maul for calling the port authorities’ decision was “rushed and arbitrary”. Meanwhile Head of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Alecos Orountiotis said that port authorities had not actually consulted them and that he had been “informed by the press”.

The CTO had also paid around €50,000 to pay four ships to be sunk in other spots, including Paphos, Paralimni and Limassol in order to promote marine tourism such as diving, Orountiotis said.

He said that he did not know what would happen to those plans now. “Sea sports bring in some €150 million in tourist revenue each year: it’s a huge product,” Varoshiotis said.