400-year-old church re-emerges from beneath Mexican reservoir

The relics of a 16th-century church built by Spanish colonisers has emerged from a reservoir in the south of Mexico, The Independent reports.

It is the second time the church, usually submerged on the reservoir bed, has been revealed in the state of Chiapas as a result of drought.

A water level drop of at least 80 feet in the Grijalba river which feeds the reservoir has revealed the 400-year-old roofless religious building, with its 10 metre high walls, 61 metre length and 14 metre wide hall.

The river was last this low in 2002, when visitors were able to walk about inside the church.

Today, fishermen are ferrying curious passengers around the ruins, which were submerged in 1966 when the nearby dam was completed and the area flooded.