Montevideo Maru: Australia finds wreck of Japanese WW2 disaster ship

Deep-sea explorers have found the wreck of a Japanese transport ship which sank off the Philippines, killing nearly 1,000 Australian troops and civilians in World War Two.

It was Australia's worst maritime disaster: a US submarine torpedoed the ship unaware that it was packed with prisoners captured in Papua New Guinea.

The Montevideo Maru sank in July 1942.

An estimated 979 Australians died, along with 33 Norwegian sailors and 20 Japanese guards and crew.

An Australian maritime archaeology group, Silentworld Foundation, organised the mission, helped by a Dutch deep-sea survey company called Fugro. read more