Near the Serbian town of Prahovo on the border with Romania, the low water level in the Danube has exposed the remains of German ships from World War II, the Reuters agency reported on Friday, releasing recordings of wrecks sticking out of the water.
“The German flotilla has left behind a major environmental catastrophe that threatens us, the people of Prahov,” Velimir Trajilović, a local pensioner who wrote a book about German ships, told Reuters.
They were sunk by Germans in 1944, when the Nazis withdrew from these areas in front of the advancing Red Army.
This year’s drought has exposed more than 20 hulls in the Danube section near Prahovo. The wrecks narrowed the shipping section here from 180 to 100 meters. Many of them contain tons of ammunition and explosives.
The low water level in the Danube has exposed the wrecks of German ships from World War IIReuters
In March, the government in Belgrade launched a tender to recover the wrecks from the Danube and remove the explosives. The cost of the operation is expected to be around USD 30 million.
A few days ago, the Hungarian media reported on a similar discovery elsewhere in the river. Low Danube level at the height of the city of Vamosszabadi in the northwest Hungary near the border with Slovakia exposed the wreckage of a probably Soviet ship that sank during World War II.
Main photo source: Reuters