Danube River drought exposes WWII Nazi shipwrecks

Extreme heat and severe drought have caused record-low water levels in the Danube River, exposing a fleet of at least 20 German World War II warships near Prahovo in eastern Serbia. These vessels were part of a larger group of over 200 ships from the Black Sea Fleet that Rear Admiral Paul-Willy Zieb ordered to be intentionally scuttled in September 1944 to block the advance of the Soviet Red Army.

The exposed wrecks pose significant risks to river navigation as many still contain unexploded ammunition and explosives. While Serbia has launched a program valued at approximately 30 million euros to remove some of the vessels and improve shipping conditions, progress remains slow due to the technical complexities of safely clearing the riverbed.

Beyond the military wrecks, the receding waters have revealed various historical and archaeological artifacts, including remnants of the ancient Constantine Bridge in Bulgaria, a British aerial bomb in Slovakia, and prehistoric woolly mammoth fossils.