The spectacular sinking of the warship “Vis” almost went horribly wrong. The warship was sunk with controlled explosions this week off the coast of Kamenjak in the Istrian peninsular in northern Croatia. Built in 1956 Vis was used as an Admiralty ship in the Yugoslav Navy and was used by Tito, as well as being visited by many heads of state. The 85 metre long ship was bought by a Croatian businessman, Arsen Brajković, in 2002 from Montenegro. His idea was to sink the ship and to use it as an attraction for divers.

After years of organisation the warship was finally sunk this week with controlled explosions 250 metre from the shoreline at a depth of 35 metres. “From the concept to the implementation took five years and now “Vis” will serve as an example for other entrepreneurs in Dalmatia to do the same,” Brajkovic told journalists.

However the sinking didn’t go quite to plan as this video below clearly shows. With the eyes of the media and national television on it controlled explosions sunk the warship. However the ship suddenly started to dip into the sea after the third and final explosion and the divers on board can clearly be seen blown off their feet with the blast, before jumping into the Adriatic to be picked up by waiting safety boats.

Check out the video at 2.10 for the full drama.