London, April 16 (IANS): A British-led team salvaged silver coins worth $50 million onboard a ship that sunk in 1942 in South Atlantic while heading to Britain from India, media reported on Wednesday.

The SS City of Cairo sank about 770 km south of the South Atlantic island of St. Helena after being struck by a torpido from a German U-boat during the World War II. The ship was carrying 100 tonnes of silver coins in black boxes to help fund the war effort, BBC reported.

The ship and its cargo was thought to have been lost when in 2011 a team led by British salvage expert John Kingsford located it at a depth of 5,150 metres -- much deeper than the Titanic's final resting place at a depth of 3,800 metres.

The recovery took place in September 2013, but the ministry of transport has only now given permission to salvagers Deep Ocean Search to make it public, the report added.

The coins were melted down and sold. An undisclosed sum was divided between the treasury, which technically owned the coins, and the salvagers, who took a percentage of the sale.

Only six of the 311 sailors aboard the ship had died in the sinking.