BUNDABERG, Australia (7 June 2004) -- SCUBA divers may soon have more to look at than marine wildlife - tourism operators want to sink a captured Iraqi MiG jet fighter off Australia's east coast to form an artificial reef. The Artificial Reef Association of Bundaberg in Queensland state has asked Defence Minister Robert Hill to help obtain one of 50 MiGs captured by Australian special forces during last year's Iraq war. The plan is to drop the warplane onto an artificial dive reef created off Bundaberg in 1987 using wrecked ships, small aircraft and other debris. The association has also asked Hill to give them a moth-balled Royal Australian Navy submarine for the site, spokesman Alan Cochrane told the local Bundaberg News-Mail newspaper today. Bundaberg officials hope the new reef attractions will lure another 6,000 divers a year to the region, which lies south of Australia's Great Barrier Reef - one of the country's top tourist destinations. A spokeswoman for the defence minister said Hill would consider the reef association's request. | | Iraqi MIG During the Iraq war, Australian SAS troops seized about 50 MiG Foxbats which had been hidden in the western desert by deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's forces. The aircraft are now in the hands of the US military. SOURCE - The Australian |
