BELGRADE, Serbia—Record-low water levels in the Danube River have exposed dozens of World War II German warships near the border between Serbia and Romania. The receding waters have also revealed unexploded ordnance and military equipment across several European nations.
Many of the vessels are part of Adolf Hitler's Black Sea fleet. The German military deliberately sank these ships in September 1944 as it retreated from advancing Soviet forces. Historians estimate up to 200 German warships were scuttled in this manner.
The exposed ships, some partly submerged on normally hidden sandbanks, are believed to still contain weapons. Previous efforts by the Serbian government to remove the wrecks have largely failed because of the explosives they carried.
Other remnants from World War II have surfaced along the Danube. In Budapest, Hungary, a German military motorcycle was recovered.
Slovakian police also reported the recovery of an unexploded British 1,543-pound (700-kilogram) bomb. Authorities loaded the device onto a specially modified firefighter vehicle with a sand bed and transported it to a five-meter-deep pit for detonation.
Britain's Royal Air Force mined the Danube in 1944 to disrupt enemy troop movements during the latter stages of the war. Those mines now represent a hazard to civilian navigation.
The Danube, Europe's second-longest river, flows through 10 countries. Its current low levels have made navigation increasingly difficult for ferries, tourist boats and commercial shipping.
Prolonged drought has also affected energy production. Many power plants across Europe rely on the Danube for cooling water, and lower levels constrain their operational capacity.
Intense summer heat and drought are driving the record-low water levels. Scientists link the extreme weather patterns to human-caused climate change. The region has recorded a series of temperature highs.
Slovakia, Austria and Hungary all registered record temperatures this week. The Slovakian hydrometeorological agency reported a new national record of 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) in the village of Dolné Plachtince.
