23 Mar 2010

Searchers believe wreck is Wimmera

8:30 pm on 23 March 2010

Searchers believe they have found the wreck of an Australian passenger ship that sank north of Cape Reinga in June 1918 after hitting a German mine.

Of the 151 passengers and crew on board, 26 died when the SS Wimmera went down. Their bodies were never recovered.

A search team lead by a marine electronics expert Mike Hodson believes it has found the ship, after searching for five days using an advanced underwater sonar system.

But Mike Fraser from the Underwater Heritage Group says a lot more work needs to be done before the searchers can confirm what they have found.