The Um El Faroud is the best known wreck in Maltese waters, and not because of the diving.
People remember what happened to her in 1995.
The explosion
She was a Libyan oil tanker, built in 1969 and 110 metres long.
In early 1995 she was in Dock Number Three at the Malta Drydocks in Senglea for repairs.
On 3 February a gas explosion tore through the ship while men were working inside her.
Nine dockyard workers were killed. It remains the worst industrial accident in Maltese history.
The blast damaged her beyond economic repair. She sat in the yard for three years while it was decided what to do with her.
Scuttled in 1998
In September 1998 she was towed out and sunk off Wied iż-Żurrieq on the south coast, to make an artificial reef.
A memorial to the nine men stands at the top of the valley above the site.
Divers are asked to treat the wreck as a memorial, which most schools will tell you before you go in.
Her name is still readable on the bow.
What she is like now
She lies upright on sand at about 36 metres, with the deck around 25.
A winter storm later broke her hull in two behind the bridge. That opened her up and made her far more interesting to swim through.
The two halves are a short swim apart, and the break itself is the best-lit part of the wreck.
She has been down long enough to be properly colonised. Expect barracuda over the deck and grouper in the holds.
What you need
Advanced Open Water for the depth, and a wreck speciality if you want to go inside rather than over.
Most schools run her as a boat dive, though she can be reached from the shore at Wied iż-Żurrieq by strong swimmers.
The shore swim is around 200 metres out and is not the option to pick on a first visit.
Getting there
Wied iż-Żurrieq is the same inlet the Blue Grotto boats leave from, so the two are easy to do on one trip.
Park in the village and walk down. The valley is steep and there is no shade on the way back up.
There is more on the other wrecks, with depths and what each one was, on our wrecks page.
