Hephaestus wreck

Hephaestus is an oil tanker that was scuttled to Xatt l-Ahmar on 29.8.2022 as an underwater attraction. This is a a shore/boat dive for experienced divers. Togo-registered Hephaestus is about 60 m in length with a beam of 8 m.

Hephaestus was wrecked at Qawra Point on 10th February 2018. The ship was anchored near the area known as Is-Sikka l-Bajda approximately 3 km from the coast when she started dragging anchor in a heavy storm and drifted directly towards the shore. An hour later at around 6:15 in the morning Hephaestus run into the rocks. The oil tanker was carrying no cargo, and the crew of seven was unharmed.

Six months later on 15th August 2018, after necessary temporary repairs, Hephaestus was pulled off the rocks by two tugboats and towed to Marsa shipyard. The severely damaged ship is too costly to repair, and will therefore be either scuttled as a diving wreck or sold as scrap.

There are already three popular diving wrecks in Gozo located in Xatt l-Ahmar on the south east coast: Karwela, Cominoland and Xlendi.