Loaded with explosives Danube releases shipwrecks from the Second World War

The drought-stricken Danube brings to light sunken German ships from the Second World War. The problem: they are often loaded with explosives and obstruct shipping.

The summer drought and falling water levels in the rivers have brought to light a lot of things that were long hidden beneath the surface. In the Danube, for example, near the Serbian river port town of Prahovo, a new batch of sunken Nazi ships from the Second World War loaded with explosives has surfaced.

This is not the first time that shipwrecks have been uncovered in the Danube. Every year, recurring droughts and heatwaves lead to a drastic drop in the water level on Europe's second longest river at 2857 kilometers.

After the water level reached a record low, dozens of sunken ships from Nazi Germany's Black Sea Fleet surfaced near Prahovo in 2022.

Parts of the Danube no longer navigable this year

The problem is always the same: the wrecks hinder navigation. "Captains have to be extremely careful and there are often incidents such as running aground," Damir Vladic, manager of the port of Prahovo, told the news agency AFP.

This year, the Copernicus program managed by the European Commission documented the water shortage along the Danube and declared that certain parts of the river in Western Europe were no longer navigable.

The ships discovered near Prahovo were among hundreds that were sunk on the Danube in 1944 by Nazi troops as they retreated from the advancing Soviet forces. The aim was to slow down the Red Army by blocking the river, but also to prevent the ships from falling into Soviet hands.

"The Nazis sank almost 200 ships during their retreat, including transport ferries, barges and torpedo boats," historian Velimir Miki Trailovic toldCBS.

Some of the wrecks scattered across the riverbed still have turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while others are largely buried under sandbanks.

Mines and munitions make salvage dangerous

For 80 years, the ships remained largely undisturbed at the bottom of the Danube. But now the river is to be cleared. "The ships are full of mines, grenades and unexploded ordnance that could cause catastrophic problems if they explode," says Trailovic.

An initiative funded by the European Investment Bank and the Western Balkans Investment Framework had provided almost 30 million euros for a salvage operation of 21 ships in 2022.

The first ship - a minesweeper - was pulled out of the Danube in August. However, removing the ships is complicated by the munitions buried with them, which require careful maneuvering to avoid any risk of detonation. Serbian officials estimate that the recovery of the ships will take a year and a half.