A German submarine that sank off Denmark in 1917 is still leaking TNT into the environment more than a century later. According to a ScienceDaily report, the wreck has contaminated the surrounding water, the seabed, and marine organisms with the explosive compound.
Researchers caution that this is unlikely to be an isolated case. Thousands of other wrecks from the same era are still resting on the seafloor, and as their hulls continue to corrode, they could release increasing amounts of hazardous materials over time.
The findings highlight a slow-moving environmental problem that may grow worse as aging wrecks deteriorate. The exact scale of the threat remains uncertain, but the Danish case offers a concrete example of how long submerged munitions can remain active pollutants.