Divers Recover WWII Plane Lost For 74 Years – Crew’s Bodies Trapped Inside Sunken Grave
Project Recover
Deeper.
A naval diving crew exploring the waters off of the Island of Palau was shocked to discover the remains of a sunken WWII aircraft. The remains of the aircraft’s crews remain inside the aircraft and in nearby areas. The US Navy has begun an effort to recover the aircraft and to identify the remains of the crew.
Palau was no stranger to combat in the Pacific during WWII and has been known to turn up sunken aircraft every so often. Nearby Ngerekebesang Island was home to a Japanese submarine base which fell prey to several B-24 bombing raids. The recovery vessels use advanced scanning technology to find the wreckage and divers spend over 12 hours per day combing the sea floor for human remains.
“It’s very labor-intensive work, and they’ve had a large amount of bottom time making this operation successful.”
The USNS Salvor the ship conducting the recovery which also has heavy lifting capabilities and decompression chambers for the safety of the divers. The cranes drop baskets and dig through the sediment for any other remains of the crew. This clip shows some of the many sunken WWII wrecks surrounding the waters of Palau.
