The Express I steamer, which sank in 1945 during an evacuation, was found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The ship was carrying 300 people and broke up due to a storm and overloading at a depth of 20 meters.

German divers have found a steamer that sank at the end of World War II at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, UNN reports citing Bild.

In May 1945, the German wheeled steamer Express I, which was used to evacuate soldiers and refugees, sank off the coast of Denmark. Only now have German divers identified its wreckage at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Parts of Wehrmacht weapons found at the site and archival research have made it possible to establish that this vessel was built in 1911 for river transportation.

The steamer, en route from Danzig to Lübeck, sank in a storm as its overcrowded crew of 300 people tried to escape the Soviet advance. As a result of bad weather and overloading, the hull of the ship broke and the steamer sank to a depth of about 20 meters.

Some of the survivors could have been rescued by another ship from the same series, the Express III, which managed to reach the Danish coast. However, the fate of most of the crew remains unknown.

Holger Bus, a historian and shipwreck expert who has studied the case, said: "The chance that the soldiers could swim to the shore is extremely small.