Wrecks of explosive-laden Nazi ships sunk in the Danube River during World War II have surfaced near the Serbian town of Prahovo, after drought in July and August caused the river’s water level to drop.
Four vessels dating from before 1950 also came to light in Hungary’s Danube-Drava National Park near Mohács, where the level of the Danube was just 1.5 meters on Tuesday, the lingering effect of intense heat waves and persistent drought in July and August.
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The ships uncovered in Prahovo were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany’s Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, destroying the ships themselves. Wrecks can obstruct river traffic during low water levels.
Scattered across the riverbed, some of the ships still have turrets, conning bridges, broken masts and warped hulls, while others are mostly submerged under sand dunes.
Endre Sztellik, a ranger at the Danube-Drava National Park, said of one of the ships: “We still don’t know exactly what it is. What is visible and an unpleasant fact is that the wreck is diminishing as people are interested in it and parts of it are being lost.”
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The Danube was at 1.17 meters in Budapest on Tuesday, compared to an all-time record low of around 0.4 meters recorded in October 2018. During floods, the Danube rises well above 6 meters.
“Eastern Europe is experiencing critical drought conditions affecting crops and vegetation,” the European climate agency Copernicus said on its website in its latest drought report, published earlier this month.
Long-awaited rains began on Monday, which are expected to raise the level of the Danube to about 3 meters in Mohács by the weekend, with the river likely to sink the wreckage again.
With information from naftemporiki.gr | Center Photo: REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic
Source: enallaktikidrasi.com
