The fall in water levels in the Danube River during the recent heat wave in Europe led experts to discover the debris of some 20 Nazi-German warships deliberately flooded here in the last months of World War II.
Many of the sunken ships still contain tons of unexploded ordnance; they pose a threat to fishermen, river transport and wildlife in general; the Government of Serbia plans to remove them and dispose of the debris.
However, as the water level continues to fall, potentially explosive debris from warships is even more dangerous than usual. According to Reuters, some show towers, command bridges, broken masts, and curved hulls.
"The German flotilla left behind a major environmental disaster that threatens us residents of Prahovo," said local historian Velymir Triilovich in an interview with Reuters.
Water levels in the Danube and many other major rivers in Europe have fallen in several months, during which temperatures and rainfall have increased; the Serbian authorities have already begun to use earth-mines to keep the Danube open for river navigation; however, the sunken ships have reduced the channel width in Prahovo by 80 metres and are now only 100 metres wide.
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