Diving Team removes a sunken yacht from Al-Shamlan harbor
Fishermen urged to stop throwing harmful waste in the harbor
KUWAIT: Kuwait Dive Team (KDT) affiliated with the Environmental Voluntary Foundation (EVF), lifted a 40-ton sunken yacht from Al-Shamlan harbor in cooperation with Kuwait Municipality, Kuwait Ports Authority (KPA), Environment Public Authority (EPA), Kuwait Fishermen Federation and Souk Sharq Administration. “The yacht sank three years ago and caused a ship docking inside Al-Shamlan harbor, which is dangerous to navigation and causing water pollution in the area”, head of maritime operations at the team Waleed Al-Shatti said yesterday.
The team received guidance from government authorities to retrieve the yacht, as the team’s submarines pulled out the wrecks. They faced many difficulties because of the remnants of fishing nets, ropes, debris of broken ships, and mud deposits at the bottom of the site, he added. He explained that the team used tools to break the yacht into parts to facilitate the task of extraction and then use air bags to float the remaining parts of the yacht and pulled it out of water by crane.
He pointed out that the Al-Shamlan harbor still suffers from a large number of mud residues at the bottom, despite a cleaning campaign launched several years ago by Kuwait Ports Authority (KPA), calling for more efforts to remove the sunken ships from the area to avoid more damage to the marine life. He called on fishermen to stop throwing harmful waste in the harbor which is characterized as an old historical location that reflects the Kuwaiti marine activity and a beautiful seafront in the capital of Kuwait. — KUNA