Iranian-American in search
of "Atlantis"
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"I am an Iranian American born in Iran.
The target area is in international waters. The Americans, Russians or
whatever, do not need me or anyone else to go and take a look there, and
if they wanted to look for oil, they wouldn't do it with our little
operation. They have submersibles that can do the job ten times as fast
and a hundred times better," Sarmast said when invited to comment on the
rumours.
He added: "If the Americans wanted to look for oil in this area, they
wouldn't use an Iranian to write a book on Atlantis and form an
organisation for something in international waters. It's just ludicrous.
So I'll ask the people of Cyprus to stop the nonsense with this spy
business. I am not a spy, I really am looking for Atlantis."
After showing a film taken during their sonar search 80km off the coast
of Cyprus, Sarmast concentrated on a computer-enhanced image allegedly
representing the acropolis of the Atlantis, as described by Plato 2,500
years ago.
He particularly drew attention to a rectangular-shaped formation, which
he claimed was part of the canal system of the sunken city, stretching
3km long, half way down the summit of the Atlantis Hill.
"It matches Plato's description of two river paths flowing to the canal
half way down the mountain and further to another outer canal wall 1 1/2
miles out from the summit. The possibility of coincidence is extremely
slim," he said.
Referring to scientific scepticism about his theory, Sarmast said the
processed sonar images had changed this.
Scientist
He mentioned in particular a German scientist who had described the
first digital images of the Atlantis acropolis as a mud volcano and
said: "There is no such thing as a rectangular mud volcano. Even if
there was one, there should have been a crater as well."
He went on to say that they were sharing the images of their sonar scan
showing the canal wall for the first time, adding they were also working
on images of the summit of the hill, which they would release in the
near future.
"The wall is the main point of interest," he noted.
"It is a clean 90 degree turn, running straight for over 2.6km. The
canal at the base of the hill is supposed to be 300 feet wide and 30 ft
high. It makes a sudden turn and goes uphill, then meets the end of the
mountain where the river will flow down. We believe this is the way they
irrigated the entire mountain area and probably the flat expanse as
well."
Sarmast said those were definitely man-made structures, never before
located so far away from the shore (50 miles) and so deep down (1 mile).
He said that in their new expedition next Spring they are going to use a
Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) going down to the wall and actually
filming the structures. A gadget attached to the ROV will be able to
penetrate the silt making visible what is under the sediment.
They will also use a submersible to taking people down to witness
whatever might be down there and sending the information up to the ship,
from where it would be picked up by satellite and globally broadcast to
the US.
Film contract
"I am dedicated to making this discovery part of something that would
benefit Cyprus for decades," Sarmast said, announcing they had already
signed a contract with Total Media Group (TMC), a Hollywood-based
production company, for a $5m, two-hour live TV special of the Atlantis
expedition.
Asked to comment on how Atlantis could be situated in Cyprus since Plato
emphatically pointed beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) in the
opposite direction, Sarmast said Plato?s information was second hand and
one cannot be sure where the Pillars of Hercules exactly were at that
time or what other name they had.