El Mina Wreck

She lies on her port side on a rocky seabed that slopes from about 25 m under the bow to 32 m under the stern. Most of the hull sits somewhat shallower than that, and its shallowest point is given as around 19 m. The stern is twisted to port with the decking facing the seabed, and the mine-sweeping sonar gear and winches are still in place, with an anchor chain snaking across the seabed.1 Operators describe an aft section bristling with winches and anti-aircraft guns while the fore-deck guns have been sheared off, bullet holes through the hull plating, cable rolls and torpedo-like mine-sweeping devices on deck.

Divers go down a line onto the wreck, where the radio room and bridge can be seen without going inside. Glassfish mass in the blast hole, and lionfish and moray eels live on the hull. Black urchins and cleaner shrimps sit under the flukes of the anchor, and red sponges and pyjama slugs colour the bow. A fishing-boat wreck lies next to her, so a single trip can take in both.

A blast hole in the hull is the feature operators single out: the one place they call suitable for penetration, and a refuge where glassfish shelter from marauding lionfish and jackfish. Around it she is a compact wreck, a warship whose winches, guns and sonar gear are still in place.

Her place beside the port is a practical draw. Day boats and liveaboards both reach her, and one operator keeps her as a very good bad-weather alternative for crews turned back from a blown-out trip to Abu Nuhas.

The wreck is the Miniya, a Soviet-built T 43 type minesweeper of the Egyptian Navy.123 She was listed in Jane's Fighting Ships from 19604 and was sunk by Israeli air attack in the Gulf of Suez on 6 February 1970.567

Israeli jets sank her within 15 hours of an attack on two Israeli naval vessels moored in Eilat harbour, an attack a wire report of 6 February put down to Egyptian frogmen.89 The New York Times called her a 700-ton minelayer with a crew of 80 and put the attack about 35 miles south of Shadwan, while Tel Aviv, in the Associated Press report, placed the sinking near Hurghada, south of Shadwan Island.810 Tel Aviv called her a Soviet-built minelayer and Cairo a supply ship.11

Visibility runs 10 to 20 m and sits below normal Red Sea reef water, because harbour sediment hangs in the water. The wreck lies in an active harbour area, so ascend along the boat's line and surface beside it.

Inside the hull the passages are narrow and silt up fast. Operators call only the blast-hole area suitable for penetration, and only for experienced wreck divers with training, lights and a guideline. On its own El Mina trips, Scuba World Divers asks for Advanced Open Water. One operator calls her a genuine war grave and a memorial that asks for a respectful approach, and divers leave every fitting where it lies.

A 3 mm suit does in summer and 5 to 7 mm in winter, as elsewhere around Hurghada.

Operators report live shells on the seabed all around the wreck. Look, do not touch.