RESTING some 120 metres down on the seabed just three nautical miles off the Greek mainland, the HMHS Britannic - the less celebrated but equally ill-fated sister ship of the Titanic - could soon become one of Greece's most novel tourist attractions.

A recent dive coordinated by the Britannic Foundation, which owns the wreck, and the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) sought to investigate the impact of the sunken liner-cum-hospital ship on its immediate marine environment and to search for evidence of the underwater minefield that is believed to have caused her to sink in 1916.

Most importantly, however, Simon Mills, the president of the foundation, points to the cooperation of the Greek culture ministry in organising the dive - something that has been lacking in the past due to the ministry's insistence that the vessel is a monument of Hellenic maritime history.

Through Britannic SA, the company set up to establish the wreck as a tourist attraction, Mills is hopeful that the first dives for the public in submersibles will be available within the next couple of years.

Source : Athens News