Gela

Greek ship surfaces 2,500 years after sinking

GreekGela, Sicily  - An ancient Greek ship returned to surface Monday some 2,500 years after it sank in the Mediterranean Sea and two decades after its wreck was discovered by divers off Sicily.

Ship sirens wailed and Italian culture officials and other onlookers applauded as a crane lifted from the waters what remains of the 21-metre-long wooden vessel, the ANSA news agency reported.

The ship's 11-metre-long keel and part of the stern, both of which were preserved as the vessel lay buried for 25 centuries under clay below the sea floor, are to be transported to the Sicilian port of Gela.