Unexplored Cyprus: Erdo III Wreck, Paphos

Located close to the shore, the Erdo III is one of the most recent shipwrecks in Cyprus. The ship was Sierra-Leone flagged and built in Norway in 1966.

The Erdo III had left the port of Limassol, Cyprus and was on its way to Rhodes, with a crew of 9 and a cargo of plasterboard on board. A severe storm struck late in the evening of 7th October 2011, and after battling the wind and waves for a number of hours, the ship hit rocks early on the 8th October.

The crew were rescued by a British military helicopter and the 95 metre vessel was left adrift. Fuel and other pollutants were swiftly removed to prevent environmental damage.

The ship drifted to its final resting place, within metres of the beach near the village of Pegia, just north of Paphos, where it remains listing at a 12 degree angle. Plans to remove the wreck were deemed too challenging, so there are no future plans for its removal.