Severe Drought Exposes Riverbeds... Even Mammoth Bones Discovered

[Anchor]

This summer, Europe has been suffering from extreme droughts following record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires. As the water levels of the Danube, one of Europe's largest rivers, dropped to record lows, even the bones of mammoths that went extinct thousands of years ago have been discovered.

Reporter Gwak Sang-eun has the details.

[Reporter]

Unidentified large bones have emerged from the dried-up riverbed.

The remains, believed to belong to a mammoth, were found along the Danube River in Bulgaria.

Experts believe it is highly likely that they are from a juvenile woolly mammoth, which represents the last Ice Age.

[Krasimir Kirov / Curator, Ruse Regional Museum of History: So far, we have excavated a lower jaw, a molar, a shoulder blade, and ribs from the site.]

This unexpected discovery was the result of a prolonged heatwave and drought.

The Danube River flows from Germany to the Black Sea, passing through 10 European countries.

Recently, the water level measured in Budapest, Hungary, dropped to 23 cm, a record low.

In Croatia, a cargo ship that sank in 1937 has also emerged above the water surface.

[Lea Vidić / Mayor of Lovas, Croatia: This ship is the Hungarian cargo vessel 'Fulton', which used to transport large quantities of coal.]

The lowered water levels have also impacted industrial sites.

The Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary, which uses river water as coolant, halted the operation of one of its reactors, and the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania also partially suspended operations.

As a crucial inland waterway in Europe, cargo ships are unable to navigate as well.

Near Vidin, Bulgaria, a cruise ship ran aground on the riverbed due to insufficient water depth, prompting the evacuation of 186 tourists.

[Zoran Tasić / Serbian Fisherman: To me, it looks like a natural disaster. I think it is a disaster created by climate change.]

Record-breaking heatwaves and droughts are fueling wildfires in Greece and Türkiye, following France and Spain.

In Greece, casualties have continued, including four firefighters who died while battling wildfires on the island of Crete and in the Peloponnese region.

Video Editing: Lee Seung-hee | Graphics: Park Tae-young
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.