A VAST underwater theme park spanning 100,000 square meters off a Bahraini island city and featuring a sunken Boeing 747 is to open in August, the Persian Gulf country has announced.

Bahrain is hoping to attract divers from across the globe with the expansive site off Diyar Al Muharraq, a city which sits across seven artificial islands. Billed as the world’s largest underwater park, its centerpiece is the decommissioned, specially prepared aircraft.

Such a feature might be of dubious taste — but that hasn’t deterred the project managers.

The 70-meter-long plane is “the largest ever to be submerged,” according to Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, Bahrain’s minister of industry, commerce and tourism.

The subaquatic project is the product of a partnership between the Supreme Council for Environment, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), and the private sector.

The diving site will also feature a replica Bahraini pearl merchant’s house, artificial coral reefs and art sculptures.

Residents and tourists will be able to book trips through licensed diving centers by August 2019, Al Zayani said.

“We are proud to launch this unique eco-friendly project,” the minister announced.

Officials say the new Bahrain attraction adheres to strict environmental standards, and will promote marine life growth and revive the local ecosystem.

But marine specialist Adriana Humanes , who has a Ph.D. in Marine Ecology from James Cook University, Australia and is currently based at Newcastle University in the U.K., says that artificial coral reefs are not always ecologically sound.

(SD-Agencies)