Gulf war wrecks are a toxic peril in Kuwait's waters

Lethal toxins from sunk vessels are damaging the environment, but a team of divers are lifting and cleaning the wrecks in a bid to protect the sea.

QARUH ISLAND // Some coral reefs have suffered from the rapid development in the Gulf as states churn up the seafloor to build islands, dredge channels and build ports.

Damage to Kuwait's waters has been compounded by hundreds of ships that were sunk during the Gulf wars. Their hulls have corroded in the hot, saline waters and leaked oil, threatening the fragile ecosystems of coral reefs that pepper the country's shores. If it were not for a small group of dedicated volunteers, the damage could be much worse. "We've salvaged more than 69,400 tonnes of junk from the seabed, more than 439 shipwrecks," said Waleed al Fadhel, 50, the leader of Kuwait Dive Team, on a recent mission to clean one of the reefs. "When the government needs something lifted from the seafloor, they call us. We are the best in Kuwait at what we do."

The debris left by wars has provided the team with the perfect environment to hone their skills. Up to 30 times a year, several divers embark on missions that can last for up to eight hours: lifting shipwrecks, cleaning the reefs, and rescuing turtles and whales - anything they can do to protect the sea. "Our goal is to create a society of diving teams from all over the world who care for coral reefs," said Mr al Fadhel, a former high-ranking government official who retired last year to dedicate himself to the environment. "We need to make the message known: save our coral reefs."

Another three of the team's 40 divers and a few snorkellers joined Mr al Fadhel on the mission. Their boat sped to Qaruh Island, a 200-metre-long stretch of land 40 kilometres off the Kuwaiti coast. The patch of yellow sand is one of three coral islands in the country's southern waters and its only buildings are a base for the coast guard. In the coral surrounding the island, the divers' search turns up about 20 tyres and scrap metal. With buoyancy provided by underwater airbags, the team gathers the junk into giant piles between the coral pillars and ties it together with nets. After several dives, a barge will remove the harmful material for good.

"The tyres would degrade in the sea, causing the coral to die, and the metal would pollute the water, poisoning the divers and the fish," said Faisal al Naqi, 27, a petroleum engineer with the Kuwait Oil Company, who has been diving with the team since 2004. "We will salvage about 10 tonnes on this mission." Mr al Naqi said some of the metal was dumped by Iraqi soldiers who were based on the island during the occupation.

"These tyres could have been dropped into the sea miles away by sailors who couldn't be bothered going to the city's dumps," he said. "They move around the seafloor with the current until they wind up in the coral." The government often calls on the team's expertise. Mr al Fadhel said two helicopters collided in a military show near Kuwait Towers in the early 1990s and plunged into the sea. The team helped the navy salvage the wreckages and recover the body of one dead pilot. On other occasions, the team has turned up finds so dangerous that it has asked the military for help.

"Ten months ago, we found an Iraqi artillery cannon and several live shells off Umm al Maradim Island's coast. We alerted the navy, which exploded the shells, and we salvaged the cannon," Mr al Fadhel said. The team tries to prevent damage to the reefs by installing mooring points so that boats can fix their positions without lowering their anchors. Since 1993, the volunteers have structured artificial coral reefs by laying more than 1,000 tonnes of concrete in 24 underwater "cities" that are shaped to shelter fish and encourage coral to grow.

The group's reputation has spread beyond Kuwait's borders. In 2009, an Omani company paid for the team to travel to the Gulf of Oman and salvage a tourist yacht that sank in shallow waters. The team laboured for three days before raising the 900-tonne vessel. Mr al Naqi said the five divers on the expedition worked for free. He said the Omanis had asked for help and "we answered the call". But equipping the divers and maintaining three boats does not come cheap. Mr al Fadhel said the 150,000 Kuwaiti dinars (Dh1.9 million) needed to run the operation every year is donated by the emir, wealthy government ministers and local charities.

While some of the divers are committed to the environment and others like the prestige of being part of a respected diving troop, others like the physical challenge. While taking a break from searching through the coral, Hamad Boursliy, 16, said: "Our ancestors were divers. I want to be like them and I like the adventure. "This is a lot of hard work, but there are only men here. Before I started, I had no muscles, but look at me now," he said, striking a body-building pose that would be more common in a gym than on a boat floating above coral reefs.