Gold, silver and emerald treasures thought to be worth as much as $17billion could be removed from the San José galleon in April.

The "holy grail of shipwrecks" was discovered by the Colombian navy in 2015, but its location has remained a state secret.

Efforts to recover treasure from the Caribbean Sea have been pushed back amid multiple international legal disputes.

Colombia, Spain, Bolivian indigenous groups and a US salvage company have all laid claim to the wreck.

Officials now say they could begin lifting artefacts from the "holy grail of shipwrecks" as soon as April.

The Spanish galleon San Jose was returning to Europe with treasures to help fund the war of the Spanish succession when it was sunk by the British in 1708.

Alhena Caicedo, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History said: "There has been this persistent view of the galleon as a treasure trove. We want to turn the page on that.

"We aren’t thinking about treasure. We’re thinking about how to access the historical and archeological information at the site."