The Salem Express lies on a relatively flat bottom 30 meters deep on her starboard side . The port side at the stern is in the depth of 10 meters and towards the bow it is slightly going down to 15 meters. At the stern there is a closed watertight flap door of the cargo hold and two propellers. Four eight cylinder diesel engines were installed for their drive. When performing the basic examination of the wreck outside, we were swimming above the port side and were looking through broken windows in individual cabins. The windows of the upper deck are of a square shape. The windows of the lower deck both at the bow and the stern are round shaped. The wreck itself is already covered in a large number of corals in many places.
In the port side, there are two huge holes , which you may use for entering the cargo space and a hole into the entrance hall leading to individual corridors and staircases to the cabins. Just on the first day of our exploration, we found a slot drink machine. The cargo hold of the ferry was divided into three sections. The main central part is the largest and has the highest ceiling .In its bow part, just behind the entry to the ship a big naval container trolley is situated and further, direction to the stern, it is full of the passengers’ luggage and baggage. When surveying the cargo hold space we found, several bicycles, televisions and other personal belongings next to bags and suitcases, which the pilgrims took as gifts to their families. Many of these subjects, clothes and electrical appliances were never used and they are still in their original packages. It was these objects being around us in our daily lives that made us realize the fact that this wreck is different. Most of the wrecks I have ever visited I was able to understand as some part of history, often as a testimony to war conflicts. The Salem Express is too young and the disaster too tremendous. In the course of the cargo hold examinations we happened to float stagnantly above the children’s toys, or above the bags with labels “Happy journey"; and we were only staying accompanied with our thoughts. Approximately in the middle of the distance between the bow and the stern, there are staircases leading from the cargo hold upwards to individual cabins. At the stern, the central section of the cargo hold is closed with a waterproof flap door , before which a huge wheel is situated in the floor for turning of the vehicles when leaving the ferry. The side sections of the cargo hold are smaller. They are with lower ceilings and the width corresponds to the parked cars in one row standing one after another. The Toyota and Nissan, we discovered in the left side section of the cargo hold, were completely new. After a more detailed investigation, we found out that the Nissan Maxima’ speed counter shows only 150 km. In the right side section of the cargo hold, the visibility was a bit worse and there was much more sediment. There we found barrels with engine oil and some engine parts. We could distinctly distinguish the turbine and shaft connecting bar. On the third day of the exploration, we were able to discover in both side sections the doors leading to the engine rooms of individual engines. The starboard engine room is relatively highly damaged, because just in this place the starboard side was ripped closely below the watermark. The port side engine room is in a good condition on the whole, however, the slightest movement makes soft sediment whirling. In the cargo hold among the luggage we could see a wall clock that stopped in the moment of the disaster.

The wreck dumping bow is half-opened, and under it there is a waterproof door. Both anchors are retracted. The keel tip is a slightly bent to the left, which was caused by the collision with the reef.

On the main deck from the bow towards the captain’s bridge there are two big chain winches for anchors and the control desk with electric motors that were driving these winches. The captain’s bridge rises up to nearly 15 meters above the bow deck. The windows of the bridge are already without glass. The windows of both floors under the bridge are partly with glass and partly broken. The captain’s bridge is relatively in a good condition. A staircase is leading from its centre between the right and left part of the control desk into the room under the bridge and into the officer’s room with white upholstered armchairs. However, thanks to the position of the wreck, the armchairs lie on a heap down on the starboard side. Close to the captain’s bridge, which is of a semi-circular shape towards the stern, the tallest mast of the ferry with antennas, radar and a s watching point rises.

Promenade decks lead from this place to the stern along both sides of the ship, between which a forecastle is. Towards the stern next to the technical background there are a ship kitchen, a room for preparing meals, a meal counter and a restaurant. Because of the position of the wreck, the kitchen is devastated significantly. The open fridge door floats near the ceiling. Only big bones lying under the fridges may show that beef was stored there. Metal plates and dishes having hung above the stoves are still in their places and we found a plastic sieve, pack of milk in powder and plastic bottles with oil and vinegar. Behind room for preparing meals there is the meals counter, where the trays are still arranged . The chairs in the restaurant are fallen down near the bottom, but the tables are firmly attached to the floor, so they remain affixed to their places. The table legs in the restaurant are from metal. The tabletops were wooden with a plastic surface. The surface remained, the wood has already decayed. The roof above the open highest deck was built from blue rippled laminate plates, which are nowadays lying broken on the bottom. On the bottom there are also lifeboats, partly still bound to the cranes that would have released them down on the water. The starboard lifeboats are missing completely.

Each of the engines has its own engine room and also its own funnel. Both funnels are in their top parts connected with a bridge, in the centre of which the second mast rises, the smaller one. On each of the funnels there is a logo from both sides in the form of the capital letter „S“, along both sides surrounded with laurel branches. „S“ does not stand for Salem, as some people have been mistakenly thinking, but for the Samatour Line, which is the Alexandrian company that was operating the ferry last.

The corridors lead to the accommodation cabins from the entrance hall and also from the promenade deck. There are smaller cabins along both the starboard and port sides, with places only for sitting, but also bigger cabins with beds. The first class cabins were with en-suite bathrooms . Other cabins are inside the ferry in the corridors, which connect the starboard side with the port side. They are without windows. Their marking has remained fully visible till now because of the luminous signs in the corridors and staircases, but also because of the numbers on the doors. With few exceptions, the cabins on the port side were cleared out during the rescue operations. Nowadays, there are only upholstered chairs or beds there.

The orientation inside the wreck is very difficult. Thanks to the fact the ship is turned by 90°, all staircases lie horizontally, and conversely, lateral corridors are vertical. Many places are more or less caved in and the passage is very complicated. Many doors and holes we were moving through made us reduce the amount of kit. We had to pass the camcorders, cameras and decompression cylinders from one person to the other through these places so that we could go through without whirling the sediment. We also had to keep orienting to draw the diving lead tight. When we were coming back from the wreck interior by the same way, the visibility lowered to zero and we had to hold the line.

Some doors of the cabins are completely closed, others are partly opened, or broken off as the result of the ship striking the reef. After three days of the wreck exploration it was clear that the cabins on the starboard side and deep in the interior of the ship remained unavailable for the rescue divers to get into. The investigation of these cabins was planned very carefully, both for the safety and for paying the honour to the victims. These places may only be documented by an investigating team. In these inner cabins the mortal remains of the passengers with all their belongings shall stay until the sea will take the wreck completely.