{"id":76115,"date":"2018-04-01T15:25:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T22:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=76115"},"modified":"2018-04-01T15:25:01","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T22:25:01","slug":"ss-sagaing-ww2-shipwreck-refloated-by-sri-lanka-navy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/04\/01\/ss-sagaing-ww2-shipwreck-refloated-by-sri-lanka-navy\/","title":{"rendered":"SS Sagaing: WW2 shipwreck refloated by Sri Lanka navy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Courtesy BBC<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A British passenger ship that sank after it was bombed in a Japanese air strike in World War Two has been raised off the Sri Lanka coast after 75 years.<\/p>\n

The SS Sagaing, whose passengers and cargo were largely saved back in 1942, has been refloated with the help of a team of divers from Sri Lanka’s navy.<\/p>\n

It had been resting about 35ft (10.7m) under the water at Trincomalee harbour.<\/p>\n

\"TheImage copyright<\/span>SRI LANKA NAVY<\/span><\/span>Image caption<\/span>Divers from Sri Lanka’s navy had to reinforce the vessel’s frame before raising it<\/span><\/p>\n

The salvage operation took several months and was carried out by Sri Lanka’s Eastern Naval Command unit.<\/p>\n

\"TheImage copyright<\/span>SRI LANKA NAVY<\/span><\/span>
Image caption<\/span>The operation to bring the wreck to the surface took several months<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It required the strengthening of the 452ft long vessel’s main structural framework, which began on 11 September 2017, Sri Lanka’s navy said in a statement on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The team of divers also erected an artificial side to the ship in order to seal an area before “dewatering” it to recover lost buoyancy.<\/p>\n