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A sunken World War Two ship which has been lying on a riverbed has been raised after 80 years (Image: @vesicg/ Instagram) A Nazi shipwreck , filled with explosives and weapons, has been raised from its riverbed grave in the River Danube near Prahovo, Serbia , after being submerged for 80 years. It is the first of a couple of hundred wrecks in the river set to be recovered. The German naval ship, part of the flotilla Kampfgruppe Zieb which had gathered in the region in a futile attempt to cross upstream to escape the Soviet Red Army advance.

It was one of around 200 ships deliberately sunk in 1944 on the orders of the Rear Admiral, Paul-Willy Zieb. At that time, the Red Army had already reached the Iron Gates, blocking the Germans’ planned retreat towards the Reich. function loadOvpScript(){let el=document.



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addEventListener("tcfLoaded",()=>{loadOvpScript()ExpressApp.Log('[Load] OVP tcfLoaded',new Date())})}},1500)}) Around 8,000 German soldiers and civilians aboard the vessels fled from the advancing Russians on foot. Some ships were later refloated and used by the Soviets for military transports in the final phase of the war.

78 years later, in August 2022, the lowest water levels in almost a century on the Danube - as a result of Europe’s worst drought in recent memory - revealed the sunken remains, which complicated commerce in Serbia and Hungary. READ MORE: Treasure hunters find archaeological gold mine uncovering 600 year-old ship The boat was stuffed with WWII explosives and weapons (Image: @vesicg/ Instagram) Some wrecks narrowed the navigable section of the stretch to just 100 metres. Around a thousand boats use the river each day for trade, transport and tourism purposes.

Over the past eight decades, no efforts have been made to remove the shipwrecks until now. In the coming weeks, authorities plan to remove 21 vessels, with a further 80 to be raised in the following phase, according to the Serbian Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesic. The project is receiving funds from the European Union .

According to NeedToKnow , many of the sunken ships are believed to hold cargo of explosives. This has been the cause of much concern for locals, who have described the wrecks as an “ecological disaster”, endangering the lives of fishermen and trade. Don't miss.

.. The beautiful European island to swap the cramped streets of Dubrovnik for [REVEAL] Doomsday shipwreck in Thames crumbling away and could cause tsunami [LATEST] Little-known UK beach with unique cliffs and WW2 shipwreck [NEWS] Trending In the coming weeks, authorities plan to remove 21 of the around 200 vessels (Image: @vesicg/ Instagram) SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you.

This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy “Every ship that is taken out goes through a thorough inspection with the dismantling of the explosives left inside them,” said Vesic.

“When this process is completed, we will allow the public to see a part of the sunken Nazi fleet that has been making navigation difficult on this part of the Danube for eight decades.”.

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