Also known as: Khanka, Russian Spy Ship, The Russian Wreck, Zabargad Russian Wreck, Zabarjad Wreck
Penetrable wreck in 24 m off Zabargad Island, Egypt, usually described as a Soviet spy ship; its name and history are unconfirmed.
Last updated October 2026
The descent lands in the western bay of Zabargad on a Soviet-built hull of around 70 metres, upright on sand at 24 metres. The bow and forward hold have broken away and lie on the port side, and the ship appears to have run onto the reef head-on. One report has the mast just breaking the surface at low tide, which would make a handy marker for the stop, but make the stop as your guide briefs it, whatever the mast does.
Most divers take a lap of the exterior first. The main hull sits upright, so a slow circuit takes in its whole length, and glassfish are reported massing over the superstructure.
The interior is the reason to bring wreck training. The pilothouse and engine room can be entered, and a light is what makes the detail readable inside. For divers without that training the exterior is a full dive on its own.
The break at the bow shows the damage from a distance, and with wreck training you can go inside a vessel nobody has managed to name.
The ship carries an SSV hull marking, the designation of a communications vessel, which points to a Soviet MOMA-class (Project 861M) survey and buoy tender, a class fitted with signals and electronic-intelligence equipment and the source of the spy-ship label. That is a reading of the markings and has not been confirmed. Ships of the class run 73.3 x 11.2 x 3.9 metres, and this one has never been measured. The questions of her name and her sinking date remain open.
Current is the variable that changes this dive: on a day it runs over the wreck, visibility falls, and the interior is the first place that shows. Take the day's current brief at the boat and stay close to the hull when it drops. Inside is enclosed steel a long way from a recompression chamber, so go in only with wreck training, a light and a plan, and turn the dive when the water clouds, because the exit has to stay in view.
What makes this dive site stand out.
Hull markings point to a Soviet survey vessel; the name Khanka is unproven.
Pilothouse and engine room are open to wreck-trained divers with a light.
The main hull sits largely upright at 24 m, the bow broken off on the port side.
The mast reportedly breaks the surface at low tide.
23.6140°N, 36.2060°E
Dived only as part of a Deep South liveaboard trip.
Our grading, low confidence: it rests on a single report of the mast reaching the surface at low tide. The hull itself lies at 24 m, deeper than Open Water's 18 m, so plan it as a dive for divers with deeper training, and interior penetration needs separate wreck training. Deep South safaris generally suit experienced divers.
Summary
The depth is modest, but the interior is a true overhead and the site is a remote offshore dive where current can run.
Safety considerations
What can go wrong here, and what divers do about it. Conditions change - take the briefing from the operator on the day.
Multi-day safari boats with this site on their itinerary.
41m, 26-guest wooden liveaboard running Master Liveaboards' full Egyptian Red Sea catalogue from Hurghada and Port Ghalib, from northern wrecks and Tiran through the offshore Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone to the far-south Rocky, Zabargad and St John's reefs.
Compact 18-guest, 9-cabin wooden liveaboard focused on Deep South and St John's routes from Port Ghalib, reaching remote Rocky Island and Zabargad.
26-guest sister of Superior with Junior and Executive suites, ranging across Emperor's Egypt catalogue from northern wrecks and offshore Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone to the Deep South.
42m steel liveaboard released 2018, the Spanish-operated Blue Force Fleet's Egypt boat, running week-long Red Sea routes from Hurghada and Port Ghalib, with English and Spanish spoken on board.
Divers call it the Khanka on a belief that has never been proven. A Khanka appears in shipping records as lost before 1 July 1982, but that ship does not match this type, and no MOMA-class ship of the name has been traced. The safest name is the Russian Wreck; Khanka is a candidate, not an identification.
Nobody can say. A loss before 1985 is suspected, and no official record of the wreck is known. MOMA-class ships were built from 1967, so the earliest possible date is 1967. Her bow points to a head-on strike on the reef, and the circumstances beyond that are unknown.
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