Barrel Clearance - Underwater Gas Pipe line
Aqaba diving services have secured the tender to remove a barrel like object from the vicinity of the Egypt to Jordan gas pipe line. This showed up on a survey by the Egyptian Gas Company in 2006. Initial survey photos prompted fears that it could be a Mk56 US Mine dropped by the Israelis, research proved that an Israeli ship had dropped by accident a barrel of chemical agents used for weapon making while transfering a cargoe in late 2005. This is a possibilty so maximum saftey precautions will be taken on the initial approach and survey of the object by the team. Trimix will be used to give a shallow END of less than 30m on the initial dive. Survey's shows that the object lies at 70m depth. Once located and proven no hazard the object will be moved from the pipeline and photographic record kept. Underwater photographic systems to be used were tested to 75m on 20th December 2008. The work finally commenced in February 2009 after permissions were secured to dive in the area. Final work was carried on in March after moving the barrel to a safe distance.
