- Many of them contain tons of ammunition and explosives, endangering river traffic.

- The drought in Europe leaves chilling images of its famous rivers without water.

The hull of a ship that sank during World War II appears due to low water levels in the Danube River near Vamosszabadi, Hungary.

Drought brings sunken Nazi ships to the surface and turns river traffic in central Europe into a minefield

Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the Danube River's flow to one of its lowest levels in nearly a century, exposing the remains of dozens of explosive-laden German warships sunk during World War II near the Serbian port city of Prahovo, according to La Vanguardia.

The ships are among hundreds of ships sunk along the Danube by the Nazi Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and they still hamper river traffic during low water levels.

However, this year's drought - considered by scientists to be a consequence of global warming - has uncovered more than 20 shipwrecks in a stretch of the Danube near Prahovo in eastern Serbia, many of which still contain tons of ammunition and explosives and pose a danger to navigation.

"The German flotilla has left behind a huge ecological disaster that threatens us, the people of Prahovo," said Velimir Trajilovic, 74, a retiree from Prahovo who wrote a book about the German ships. Workers in the local fishing industry are also at risk, including those from Romania, which is just across the river.

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River traffic threatened

Months of drought and record-breaking high temperatures have disrupted river traffic on vital arteries in other parts of Europe, including Germany, Italy, and France. In Serbia, the authorities have resorted to dredging to keep the Danube's shipping lanes open, according to La Vanguardia.

Around Prahovo, some of the rubble has reduced the navigable section of this stretch of the Danube from 180 meters to just 100 meters. Scattered across the riverbed, some of the ships still have turrets, wheelhouses, broken masts, and twisted hulls, while others lie mostly submerged under sandbars.

In March, the Serbian government launched a tender for the salvage of the hulls and the removal of ammunition and explosives. The cost of the operation was estimated at 29 million euros.

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