Replica of Titanic now under construction

For those who have always wondered what it would've been like to be a passenger on the the then biggest ship Titanic_ a theme park in China is set to offer the closest experience one can get.

A massive replica of the sunken ocean liner is now under construction in Daying County in Sichuan province.

Called the 'Unsinkable Titanic_' the ship is the exact same size as the original -- 269.06 meters (882 feet) in length and 28.19 meters (92 feet) wide.
The centerpiece of a theme park called Romandisea_ it will have the same amenities of its namesake_ including banquet halls_ theaters_ observation decks and a swimming pool. Guests will be able to pay to spend the night aboard the ship_ which will be permanently docked in a reservoir in the Qijiang River_ about 130 kilometers from the provincial capital Chengdu -- several hundred miles from the sea.

An opening date has not yet been set.

CNN first reported on the project in 2016_ when construction workers had just started laying the keel. A recent photo essay by news agency AFP offers a new look at construction progress on the replica.

According to the AFP_ it's taken 23_000 tons of steel and cost one billion yuan ($153.5 million) to build the replica. China's ship isn't the only proposed replica of the original Titanic.

In 2018_ Australian company Blue Star Line announced work was recommencing on the Titanic II following a lengthy delay. It has been promoted as an identical copy of the infamous liner_ home to 835 cabins to accommodate 2_435 passengers.

The maiden voyage was scheduled to take place in 2022_ however the company's website hasn't been updated since 2018.

History of the Titanic

The original Titanic set sail on its maiden voyage from Southampton_ England_ to New York on April 10_ 1912. At the time_ it was the largest passenger ship afloat.

On April 14_ around midnight_ it struck an iceberg and sunk in less than three hours. According to the US Senate report on the Titanic disaster_ 1_517 people died and 706 survived out of 2_223 passengers and crew.

In 1985_ scientists led by American Robert Ballard and France's Jean Jarry located the wreckage about 350 miles off the southeast coast of Newfoundland_ Canada. The following year_ Ballard and his crew used a manned deep-ocean research submersible to explore the sunken ship for the very first time.

Although Ballard admits he was never a "Titanic fanatic_" he says he became fixated on finding the wreck after witnessing several unsuccessful attempts by other explorers."

"Titanic was clearly the big Mount Everest at the time_" he explains. "So many others had tried -- many that I thought would have succeeded_ or should have succeeded_ but didn't."