Bhubaneswar, Feb. 5: Scuba diver Sabir Bux yesterday found a sunken ship on the Astaranga-Konark coast in the Bay of Bengal. The ship was found 55-nautical miles from the Chandrabhaga beach along the Konark-Puri coast.

Talking to The Telegraph over phone, Bux, 45, said: 'I was getting regular feedback from fishermen operating along the Puri-Konark-Astarang coast that their fishing nets were getting torn in the sea. I delved deep into the sea and located the ship after two days of exploration.'

Saying that finding treasures hidden in the sea was his passion, the diver claimed that the ship had been ripped apart by some blast with its wreckage lying scattered on the seabed.

'Along with 13 members of my team, we have also videographed the ship. We will give the details later,' he said.

Bux said he would send the video footage of the sunken ship to the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa to find out more about its origin

'Chains weighing almost five tonnes are lying on the seabed. These must have been used to anchor the ship. The brass metal of the ship was also found,' he said.

The diver also claimed that the ship wreckage had a number of railings. He said though more research was required, the wooden pieces and iron rods used in the ship suggest it was an old vessel.

On Tuesday, Bux had stumbled upon another huge structure in the sea about 12 nautical miles from Puri beach. He wasn't sure whether it was a ship or small hillock deep inside the sea.

Director of ports Subrat Rout said: 'According to the maritime act, if a ship is found on the seabed, district collector of the area is the custodian of it. The state at present cannot make a survey along the coast to find out more about the sunken ship as it would involve huge expenditure.'

Port officials said after the British came to India in the 1600s, their activities, along with that of the French, had gone up along the Odisha coast. It started from Balasore in the north to Gopalpur in Ganjam district in the south.

Former superintending archaeologist, state archeology, Debaraj Pradhan said: 'Only the examination of the wood used in the ship can ascertain the age of the ship. If a proper survey is conducted on the coast, more sunken ships can be found. Besides, one should also try to find out whether there are any coins lying in the ship's wreckage.'

Pradhan claimed that Odisha had a long maritime history and had good business links with southeast countries.

'Some times ships were struck by disasters and sunk without a trace. We had also recovered a sunken ship on the Balasore coast in 1991. It was a Portuguese ship of 16h century, ' he said.

Secretary, Odisha Institute of Maritime and South East Asian Studies, Sunil Patnaik said: 'We have to analyse the videograph before arriving at a conclusion on the identity of the ship. This maritime zone was abuzz with activity from 1740 to 1900s. A number of Indian as well as British ships crossed the route that connected Calcutta to the then Madras Province, which is now known as Chennai. The sunken ship might be one of those.'

Earlier in 2009, Bux had discovered a 133-year-old French cargo ship Veleda that was 250ft long and 50ft wide. It was found near Hukitola island in the Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast in Kendrapara district.

As a severe cyclone struck the vessel, the captain failed to anchor the ship to the coast. Though it was older than the world famous Titanic no one had bothered to trace the remnants of the ship till it was discovered.

Several members of the crew had succumbed in the shipwreck and were buried in a cemetery near a lighthouse on the coast.

Coming to know about it from the then Cuttack collector John Beames's Autobiography Memories of a Bengal Civilian, Bux had located the ship. Beames was the collector of Cuttack from 1875 to 1878.

In 2011, Bux had also discovered another sunken vessel on the Konark coast.