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 level of the Danube River, one of Europe's largest rivers, has dropped to a record low, even the bones of a mammoth 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 site where the remains, presumed to be a mammoth, were found is the Danube River in Bulgaria.

Experts believe it is likely a juvenile woolly mammoth, which represents the last Ice Age.

[Krasimir Kirov / Curator, Rousse Regional Museum of History: So far, we have excavated the lower jaw, molars, 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, hit a record low of 23 centimeters.

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

[Lea Vidic / Mayor of Lovas, Croatia: This ship is the Hungarian cargo ship '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 cooling water, suspended the operation of one of its reactors, and the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant in Romania also partially halted operations.

As an important inland waterway in Europe, cargo ships are unable to travel 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 Tasic / Serbian Fisherman: To me, this 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 Turkey, following France and Spain.

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

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