In spring 2005, the makers of the Rosalie Moller documentary and the organizers of the last year’s Rosalie Moller expedition Petr Slezák and Michal Kubát decided to undertake another long prepared project – the Salem Express expedition. The key expedition objectives were to shoot sufficient amount of film material for the production of the documentary, to investigate the wreck condition and to make a coverage. The expedition consisted of 7 members of the expedition team and of 6 support divers. The team made 12 dives in the course of five days.

The general opinion was that the main reason for the sudden flooding of the cargo hold was caused by the ferry dumping bow getting loose. However, the Czech expedition proved after carrying out a detailed investigation that the main reason of the flooding of the cargo hold was the bursting of the starboard side. There is a waterproof door under the dumping bow, which is still closed . Therefore, it is obvious that this was not the way where the water got into the ship. The ferry struck the reef with the bow, which got bent because of the strike and thanks to the inertia the starboard side got ripped. In the front part of the ship, there is a crack nearly at the keel bottom. It may not be seen unless you lie on the sandy bottom and have a look at the place, where the bottom passed into the starboard side. When the ferry was taking in water, the bow was sinking, the ship was leaning to the right, another rip of the keel at the level of the floor of the cargo hold occurred, which is about 5 meters higher than the hole in the front part of the ship. The expedition team found evidence about this crack in the right section of the cargo hold. Therefore, the cargo hold was immediately flooded with water and the ferry was leaning more and more to the right side which was also caused by the moving of the load. From the time of striking the reef to the sinking of the ship not more than 18 minutes passed. The position of the wreck not even 100 meters from the reef together with the fact that the lifeboats remained on the cranes only half released may testify the speed of the course of the disaster. They have been lying near the wreck till nowadays.

However, there are still a lot of unexplained questions, which the Czech film expedition would like to answer by means of the documentary. Who was indeed the person standing on the captain’s bridge in the moment of the disaster? Why were not the rescue operations started immediately when the ferry was connected by the radio with the Safaga port in distance not even 5 miles? How many people really died in the disaster? How was it possible that such a big ferry had only eight lifeboats available?

To secure such a detailed wreck exploration as we have selected, technical diving equipment was necessary and the penetrations had been marked by the line, which we removed again after the completion of the exploration. Air was used for breathing mixtures and in the decompression breaks we were on EAN70 to 100% O2. The usual period of search dives was between about 90 minutes. Besides the camcorders lights, each of the divers belonging to the explorating team was equipped with three other lights available.
Diving in such a site as the wreck of the Salem Express ferry has been attracting, but also discouraging divers because of different reasons. I personally know people who understand the wreck as a diving site and try not to be moved by the disaster that happened here, but I also know divers who are enjoying the dives very emotionally and they would never penetrate the wreck. I also know divers who would reject entering the Salem Express saying it is a grave.

The target of our expedition was a serious investigation, illustration of the wreck condition 14 years after its sinking, making a coverage and shooting a documentary, by means of which we would like to remember the victims of the disaster and to pay homage to the members of the rescue team. All expedition members carried out one hundred percent professional work, in extremely demanding conditions and I would like to thank them in this way for that. We were not trying to make a sensation or a shocking coverage at any price and therefore I am sure that a certain part of the documentary shot I will never publish. Many wrecks are connected with tragic fates and with life losses. No matter how controversial your opinion of our expedition might be, please do not forget that there are many other wrecks, which the divers have been entering every day trying to experience adventures, they are graves and monuments to the victims. In the course of the Rosalie Moller sinking two sailors died, 9 people remained on the Thistlegorm, sinking of the Carnatic lasted two days and even so it took more than 30 lives.

The wreck exploration is an immensely adventurous part of diving and it is only up to each of us to decide with how much respect you will approach it.