UM El Faroud |
 Size does matter. It was an oil tanker that was scuttled following an explosion in the dry docks when maintenance work was being carried out on it. It lies at a maximum depth of 36 meters.
This site is dived most when other sites are dangerous since it is sheltered by the valley of Wied iz-Zurrieq. |
This wreck is so big that you can only see a portion of it in one dive. It is also abundant with fish including barracuda, scorpion fish and squid.
UM El Faroud wreck can be found in Wied iz-Zurrieq, near Qrendi. It is 110 metres long, weighs 110 tonnes and the visibility of the sea around it is of about 30 metres. The Um El Faroud was a libyan ship built in 1969. It was docked at the Malta Drydocks in 3rd Febuary 1995, dock no. 3, for maintenance works. A gas explosion occurred in tank no. 3 leaving 9 dead workers. 
Three years later, on 2nd September 1998, it was moved to Wied iz-Zurrieq to serve as a dive site. To commemorate the victims of this accident, a brass plaque was fixed on the wreck before being sunk. To reach this wreck, divers need to swim quite a long way, thus reducing the available time to spend exploring the wreck itself. Divers can enter the ship to explore the inside, the bridge, upper and lower decks and the wheel house. 