EIGHT new sunken ships have been discovered in the waters below Aegean off the Turkish coast.

The discovery was made researchers from İzmir’s Dokuz Eylül University’s Institute of Marine Science and Technology (IMST).

They conducted research on sunken ships located between Muğla’s Datça peninsula and Antalya.

The latest research project by the IMST, which receives funding from the Culture and Tourism Ministry, Development Ministry and Bodrum Municipality, has taken three months to complete. 

The institute’s deputy director associate professor Harun Özdaş said the first stage of the Aegean and Mediterranean research had been finished in 2004, adding: “The main purpose of the project is to expand the inventory of sunken ships.

“From the beginning of this year, we have been focusing on the ships that sank during the Ottoman times. During three months of research, we discovered eight new sunken ships. It was a very productive time as we worked in the areas where we hadn’t previously worked before.”

Ozdaş added the sunken ships, which have already been revealed, would be given to the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology in the coming days.