The Dead Sea is among 14 finalists in a global internet vote next year to choose the 7 wonders of the natural world, organisers said on Tuesday.The famously salty lake at the lowest point in the world is in the running for a place alongside spectacular natural phenomena such as the Amazon River, the Galapagos Islands, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef.
Others include Venezuela's Angel Falls, Canada's Bay of Fundy, the Maldives islands, Italy's Vesuvius volcano, Halong Bay in Vietnam, Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina, Lebanon's Jeita Grotto, Indonesia's Komodo national park and the Puerto Princesa underground river in the Philippines.
The Dead Sea is shared by Israel, Jordan and the occupied West Bank. It was almost eliminated from the contest (www.new7wonders.com) earlier this year when Middle East politics blocked their required cooperation.
But a last-minute compromise allowed the candidacy to proceed to the next stage. Final results are due in 2011, by which time the organisers expect one billion people will have voted online.
Over 100 million people participated in choosing the seven new, man-made wonders of the world announced in July 2007. Winning the title nearly tripled tourist visits to Jordan's ancient ruins of Petra, to the east of the Dead Sea
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