A Japanese ship, the Hōfuku Maru, was sunk by US warplanes in 1944 while transporting over 1,000 Allied prisoners of war, including British and Dutch servicemen. The wreck has now been discovered after more than 80 years, near the Zambales province in the Philippines.

Conditions on Board

The prisoners were subjected to inhumane conditions, with inadequate food, water, and sanitation. Many were too weak to move, and some were forced to use ‘mess tins as bed pans’ due to the lack of access to toilets.

The ship was part of a convoy of ‘hell ships’ used by the Japanese military to transport prisoners of war during World War II. The location of the wreck was lost for decades, but a team of researchers from the Hellships Memorial Foundation, with support from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands and the Discovery Channel, has finally found it.

Discovery and Verification

The researchers used a combination of archival documents, sonar surveys, and technical dives to locate the wreck. The discovery was verified through photogrammetry, a technique that uses hundreds of images to create a 3D model of the wreck.

The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands has confirmed that the wreck is ‘almost certainly’ the Hōfuku Maru, and it will be treated as a war grave, with no plans for excavation.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.