Wreck of the Titanic placed under UNESCO protection 100 years on - PHOTOS

PHOTOS - New sonar images of the Titanic on the Ocean floor - slideshow

The wreck of the Titanic will come under UNESCO protection after its 100th anniversary on 15th April. Their protection will aim to prevent unscientific or unethical exploration.

UNESCO report that over the years 700 divers have visited the site 4,000 meters under water off the coast of Canada.

In a statement released from their Paris headquarters UNESCO said “From now on, state parties to the convention can outlaw the destruction, pillage, sale and dispersal of objects found at the site," Unesco said in a statement from its Paris headquarters.

"They can take all possible measures within their power to protect the wreck and ensure that the human remains there are treated with dignity."

Irina Bokova, director-general of Unesco, a United Nations cultural agency, said the sinking of the Titanic was "anchored in the memory of humanity". She said it was important to protect the site where 1,500 people lost their lives.

"There are thousands of other shipwrecks that need safeguarding as well... We do not tolerate the plundering of cultural sites on land, and the same should be true for our sunken heritage."

The ship will fall under the 2001 Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage.
This convention protects vessels that sank more than a century ago.

Titanic was a British liner, built in Belfast, no state can claim ownership of the shipwreck site, off the coast of Newfoundland, because it lies in international waters.

The Titanic hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic, en route to New York. In the early morning of the 15th April, 1912, 1,514 lost their lives. This was one of the worst peacetime shipping disasters in history.