SYDNEY: Experts filmed the wreckage of a sunken WWII ship off the coast of Australia on Sunday and said they identified it as the hospital ship Centaur.A team of experts led by search director David Mearns located the wreckage late in December 2009 and winched down a mini-submarine early on Sunday to capture visual proof.
A Japanese submarine torpedoed Centaur off the coast of Queensland in 1943, killing 268 men and women on board.
"There is absolutely no doubt that this is the Centaur. We found a number of absolutely identifying features which are virtual finger prints of the ship," Mearns said.
Among those characteristics the camera captured, were the red cross painted on the bow, the wide green band painted around the hull, and number 47 painted white on a black square that designated the Centaur as Australian Hospital Ship 47.
"It is a very damaged shipwreck, I'd say one of the worst that I've seen," Mearns said.
The ship's bow was almost completely severed from the rest of the hull as a result of the torpedoe hit, Mearns said.
"I think we have enough to give people that comforting feeling I know they are going to want," he told media.
The Japanese Imperial Army carried out several attacks on Australian soil during WWII, including an air bombardment of the city of Darwin in the country's north.
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