Britannic and other wartime wrecks will be opened to divers

Wartime wrecks in the Aegean, including the Britannic – the sister ship of the Titanic – could soon be open to divers, under new legislation being discussed by the Greek government.

The proposals will be voted on next month, and could see an end to the currently exhaustive rules surrounding this famous wreck and other sunken vessels and airplanes, which are off-limits to divers unless a – rarely granted – permit is granted.

The new legislation would permit diving on wrecks sunken between 1860 and 1970. As well as the Britannic, this would include a Junkers Ju 52 aircraft that crashed off the coast of Paros in 1943, and the World War Two British submarine HMS Perseus, which sank after hitting a mine in 1941 and went down with 60 of its 61 crew members still inside.