Historic WWII tugboat rises from depths as Danube River dries up
As prolonged extreme heat dries up rivers across Europe, the remains of a steam tugboat from the early 1900s have become the latest historic artefact to emerge.
The corroded hull, a vessel once known as the Slovenian, re-emerged earlier this month from the Sava River near Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, 70 kilometres (45 miles) northwest of Belgrade.
Although parts have broken the surface previously, residents say the wreck has never been so fully exposed.
“It’s been several years since it was last seen, so there is quite an interest,” said historian Andrija Popovic, who is the head of the town museum.
“It’s truly something you don’t see every day,” he added.
Local Serbian media have nicknamed the boat “Sava’s Titanic”.
A range of relics, including military vessels, mammoth bones and ancient structural remains, have surfaced from falling waters along the Danube, Rhine and other waterways.
The intense drought has also disrupted trade, power generation and local water supplies.
Record-low water on the Danube has severely affected nuclear power plants in Hungary and Romania while bringing shipping to a halt along Europe’s second-largest river.
Meanwhile, months of dry weather have ruined crops from Bosnia to the Netherlands and led to water shortages extending into the Alps.
According to Mr Popovic, the Slovenian was made in 1913 in a shipyard in Budapest, Hungary, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
It measured roughly 54 metres (177 feet) in length and was initially named Vag, which is Hungarian for Slovakia’s longest river, Vah. With a steam engine, the boat pulled heavy cargo between Budapest and other towns along the Danube.
During the Second World War, the boat largely paused its routes, Mr Popovic added.
As the war ended and the Austro-Hungarian empire was dismantled, the boat’s ownership switched to the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians – which would later become Yugoslavia – as part of war reparations, he said.
