Wildfires sweep Europe, exposing deadly legacy of buried wartime explosives. Photo credit: AP
Sarah Njeri, a peace and conflict scholar at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, said climate change was disturbing conditions that had kept many weapons dormant for decades.
In Slovakia, falling Danube levels revealed two naval mines, while authorities in Hungary closed Budapest’s Margaret Bridge after a World War II bomb emerged from receding water.
“Climate change is now doing the work of unburying and reactivating what was previously stable,” Njeri told AP. This year’s fire risk was amplified by heavy rains in January, which encouraged vegetation growth before summer heat, drought, low humidity and strong winds turned it into fuel, according to a study by the World Weather Attribution group. Wildfires can ignite old explosives through intense heat, while flames can also strip away vegetation that has concealed wartime debris. Climate-driven drought is also exposing weapons hidden underwater. German authorities likewise found a wartime bomb as the Rhine fell.