1913 Tugboat Wreck Emerges in Serbia's Sava River as Drought Drains 50% of EU, UK
Updated
Updated · CBS New York · Aug 20
1913 Tugboat Wreck Emerges in Serbia's Sava River as Drought Drains 50% of EU, UK
3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Aug 20
Summary
The Slovenian — a 177-foot steam tug built in 1913 — has surfaced unusually far out of the Sava River near Sremska Mitrovica, with locals saying the wreck has never been so exposed.
Prolonged heat and drought have shrunk rivers across Europe; by late July, 50% of the EU and UK was in drought and 9% had reached the most severe alert level.
That drop in water levels has already disrupted trade, power and water supplies, with record-low Danube levels hitting nuclear plants in Hungary and Romania and halting traffic on Europe's second-largest waterway.
The wreck also carries wartime history: renamed after World War I, the tug survived two world wars before striking a German mine in April 1945 while carrying wounded Yugoslav fighters.
Across Europe, the same drought is exposing other relics — Nazi warships in the Danube, an ancient Roman bridge in Italy and woolly mammoth bones in Bulgaria — underscoring warnings that such extremes are becoming the new normal.