Bombs mines tall paedo warheads basically you find the entire horrifying array of things that the human brain is capable of devising when it wall its isnt good by current estimates there are about 1600000 tonnes in german waters. Enough to fill a 3000 kilometer long Freight Train that we did like. Towards a couple of religions are made of metal and because salt water has a highly corrosive effect its a question of when not if all their contents are harmful for the environment and for people. To be pretty government policy in recent decades has essentially been to ignore the issue people have no real idea how much already has been or is about to be perforated by rust it was. The 2nd world war. A global conflict that also soared large parts of europe bombarded from the air on an unprecedented scale. And the high seas were also the scene of fierce fighting in the course of naval battles the parties to the war fired off countless shells mines and torpedoes towards the end of the conflict German Forces dumped their own munitions in the sea and following their victory the allies also ordered enormous stockpiles of active german ordnance to be sunk at specially chosen sites. In the Community Just probably in the allies did recognize the problem of course they were concerned about some shadowy groups getting hold of the munitions and using them to mount postwar resistance attacks and what have you. So they arrive at a solution fairly quickly tipping it all into the north sea in the baltic in the morgue and you also see. In the legal order they generally assign specific locations for dumping the ordnance was transported to the coast and thrown into the sea. 50000. 00 tons landed in a dumping site in the kiel fiord for example and there are others to believe. But there was also the problem of on route dumping. The people tasked with the job were paid per journey. And would use the opportunity to dispose of items along the way like it was often yet indigenously exactly the body before. The war time german navy had a large arsenal not far from this beach outside the city of keel. Her fans remember seeing torpedoes being dumped here his father was involved in the operation and took his then 4 year old son with him. I saw this tall ship arriving on the harbor where my father was working. The torpedoes were loaded onto the ship and then taken out to sea some distance behind the lighthouse. And then they were thrown overboard and they were gone. The enormous quantities of unexploded ordinance have been rotting away on the seabed for decades their contents are repeatedly washed up on the regions coasts posing a hazard for beach goers. There have been frequent cases of people unwittingly picking up explosive gun cottonwood used by the german navy during the war frank rudolf who spent years inspecting munitions finds on germanys beaches and shows us how treacherous gun cotton. Looks like a perfectly normal stone theres hardly any way to tell the difference if you pick one up your hands will be stained yellow due to a diet contains called hex a night show defend alarm in and you will not be able to wash that stain off your fingers its carcinogenic can causes genetic mutations and is very harmful when breathed in all swallowed pretty nasty stuff from pleased. On the left is a normal starting from the same village and next was a similar looking lump of gun cotton paper fans in his childhood friends used to play around with the explosive materials they found on the beach they particularly enjoyed setting fire to them not realizing the danger involved until my south. Towards wed pick up to stop without any gloves and wed always get these blisters between our fingers and elsewhere. Eventually we realized it was from the explosives. And one of my friends collected some of it in world league loves set fire to it and then put his gloves back on so he was in contact with the stuff for far longer than us. He was in hospital for 2 weeks or so because he got new skin practically over his entire body fast i know youre out. In recent years as well large chunks of gum cotton have been found on the beaches of northern germany the coastline region peter farms is constantly on the lookout while on his favorite beach his most recent find was in 2015. Experts believe that germanys north sea coast is home to 1300000 tons of munitions with another 300000 tons on the countrys baltic coast. Stefan nehring is a marine biologist who has been tracking underwater ordinance for years. In 2003 he was asked by the authorities to examine dumps of poison gas near the north sea island of helgoland nehring was astonished to see the sheer number of munitions dumping sites marked on movie cool charts from the area. Which i knew there were ordinance dumps primarily poison gas in the strait of scott iraq and off the island of borneo. But seeing all these areas marked right off our coast was completely new to me and learning that we have far more accidents than previously known if you look at statements from the authorities back then they refer to a few handfuls of incidents caused by underwater munitions but my research has shown that the figure is way in excess of 1000 accidents on germanys coast and with a lot of casualties. After pestering the authorities stefan nearing impact on his own Research Mission he found that vast quantities of unspent ordinance had indeed been dumped off germanys coast to today hes on a diving expedition in the baltic sea near lubeck within sight of the mainland at a place that anyone with a boat can access the water is just 18 meters deep at this point what nearing discovers on his expeditions really fails to shock him. When i go diving in these areas its shocking to think of the huge amount of munitions down there. I feel really uneasy and because its so dark down there people are unable to see all this stuff thats going on underwater. Because theyre selfish all files show that the authorities were aware of the problem but the public were never really made aware of the dangers and especially the quantities involved. And the authorities just hope that the problem would go away over time and that eventually thered be nothing left to find in the understeer and. In reality the munitions have been continuously corroding for over 70 years some for more than a century. In some cases right below passing ferries and freight ships since 2012 the german navy has located and deactivated around 100 explosive devices in shipping lanes along akil fiord. In germany marine Pollution Prevention is the responsibility of the federal maritime and Hydrographic Agency we asked for an interview on the issue of corroding sea dumped munitions witten down. Said previously we are not the of clickable agency we are responsible soley for locating munitions. Does b s our the federal maritime and Hydrographic Agency is still refusing to acknowledge the presence of ordinance there despite itself gathering High Resolution backing metric data but they say the data show no cause for alarm so i wonder either theyre too stupid to know our drug reform works or they dont want to see the danger. They have working systems id have to see it but refuse to acknowledge it. A systematic clearing of the seabed only happens when economic interests take presentence such as the construction of an offshore wind farm or pipeline in those cases the authorities and Insurance Companies require every inch of the area in question to be probed. Company has a range of equipment that includes a machine used to find undesirable metal parts in areas in marked wind farms. This is called a stand fish in the water if lies along in this position horizontally and is steered from above. This kind of device covers a scanning with about 5 meters. And now think that a wind farm will have a perimeter of several kilometers we have to inspect every single square meter along the cable routes and at the size of the turbines. A process that takes months then a 2nd ship with human and robot divers on board examines every piece of metal much of that will typically be scrap but they often come across old bombs shells and mines. Thought and the wind operators massively underestimated the colossal effort involved says cuttin. At 1st working underwater salvaging items then bringing them back to the surface was incredibly difficult sometimes we managed only one or 2 objects a day now its more like 10 to 15 objects a day. But just imagine how much stuff is down there in total so with a ship of that size and all the costs that come together 10. 00 or 15 objects isnt really a lot. An operation of this kind can cost several 1000000. 00 euros disagree dean has an inkling about who ultimately foots the bill. Just saw such of course its paid for by the energy companies. But i reckon they end up pricing it into their electricity bills for consumers. The wind farm sites cleared of munitions by private sector firms constitute a fraction of the total area in question the german navy also deployed special ships to scan the sea bed the government provides funding for a range of Research Projects and has set up an expert monitoring group. The underwater Ordinance Committee is headed by un stern hein founded in 2007 it brings together specialists representing the national and regional governments moment right now were conducting a general evaluation were trying to do what environmental groups have been demanding for years and drawing up a comprehensive register of munitions for cities which also got a situation. Every year the experts publish a list of the t. N. T. Hand grenades torpedoes and shells discovered in 2017 they found 171. 00 remnants of the 1st and 2nd world wars off the coast signal in germany the Committee Works independently of government authorities. Also it would be easy status is necessary so that we can be frank about problems we identify without having any accountability. It means were not put in a position of having to pay for them. Its our interest among the senior advisers to the Expert Committee is because the former naval officer spends a lot of time browsing the regional archives of the coast on the task he faces is a daunting one trolling through old military files to document every single bomb and mind discharged by the german voices join the 2nd world war and hopefully their current locations his research has made a significant contribution to the detail mapping of the toxic science its a laborious undertaking. Milimeter small i live here we have an area concerning an air raid on the night of february 15th 1904 it was a major raid targeting berlin. With over 800. 00 aircraft and including a diversionary attack an airborne mine laying operation with 44. 00 bombers over the bay of kiel feels hes in total these aircraft dropped over 270. 00 mines. We have detailed documentation of the raid including the british plans so we know these aircraft actually took off and conducted the diversionary attack and the mines were transported into this area. To locate mines dropped from the skies vic it has to consult mountains of British American and german files he and his team are generally only allowed access for a few days at a time. When the shots are visible a typical Research Visit to an archive with a team of 3 or 4 people might produce 1212000 pages of material for analysis if youre really good. And then it all has to be evaluated so after one week in the archive youre definitely looking at a good 3 or 4 months of analysis. The former naval officer could not be more dedicated to the task but his team still have several dozen kilometers of files to work through only then will he have a rough overview of the only information recorded in the war files and most of the munitions dumped after the war are undocumented sees only one solution for locating all the contaminated sites the gods and most of the ordinance that ended up in the sea after being dumped or dropped during the war adds up to an enormous amount in order to be 100 percent sure that we have detected everything and can now retrieve it all you have to sweep every single meter of the seabed for me. A job that would cost many billions of euros which im not provided for in any budget and main while as the mines continue to corrode and release their hazardous contents the time bone continues to take the toxic ordinance washed up by the tide is often indistinguishable from natural rocks and mineral stones the consequences can be devastating as gets a month ski found out after retiring he fulfilled a lifelong dream and moved with his wife from the industrial real region to the soft green hills because he loved spending his free time by the baltic in january 24th scene he was collecting stones while strolling the beach. Lifestyle one of the stones are collected in my bag looked like a piece of coral or a fossil. And suddenly bang. All i can remember is that there was this flash of light from my pants pocket. And i was on fire. Well because. What he picked up was not a stone but a lump of White Phosphorus like i saw my jeans burning up. My skin was melting and falling off and there was black smoke. The only other person there was fishing. I called for help and i screamed im burning up. He musta thought i was crazy. When he did come over i told him to call for an ambulance ideally a helicopter. And then some i managed to reach the water and when the flames are that high you dont roll around in the sand and wonder what to do its life or death or one of these or that gets observer leave. This is a photo of gets him on skis leg right after the accident. Biologist frank rudolf knows all too many stories like that a good samantha and has written a book advising pebble collectors on what to watch out for. Its not how it was a 1st on this here is the harmonies piece of flint this is amber the biggest danger to the public is confusing amber flint and phosphorus only experts can tell the difference just by looking. Amber and phosphorus feel the same and have the same weight. For force but fast for us is exceedingly dangerous because it self ignites at around 20. 00 to 40. 00 degrees celsius and once it reaches our body temperature it becomes liquid and ignites. So instead of a stone you can remove from your pocket all you have is this slime on your fingers after taking a. Serious problem with this phosphorus is that back then it was mixed with rubber the idea behind incendiary bombs was that they drop through roofs and into the buildings and then a small explosive charge was enough to spray the phosphorus across the walls and even the rubber was added to make it stick leading to a cluster of small fires. Because i took papers out of my pocket and threw them into the sand. Never a good german knows you need your Health Insurance card when you go to the hospital. And the tops of 4 fingers were on fire you. May have new skin now old but they were like candles on the 4th advent sunday. The waters off the island of whose adama ne in germany had a particularly large quantity of phosphorus in 1943 a group of british bomber planes followed faulty target identification and dropped their payloads. Up to 3 phosphorus related accidents are reported every year fortunately not all of them have a dramatic an outcome as that in case. When they do patients are taken to the University Clinic in christ child the chief surgeon is familiar with the typical injuries. Therefore so i wasnt phosphorous ignites in the pocket of your trousers it causes these kinds of burns if youre quick theyll be 5 centimeters long but its a different scenario with the hands instinctively use your hands to try and question the fire and hear the patient lost entire patches of skin with burnt edges and fibrin crops that form a couple of hours later. The thumb and forefinger were affected. In this case which i remember well the patient put his hand in his pocket to try to remove what was burning. In the holes or in the Surgical Team of permanently prepared for patients with phosphorus ferns its a problem theyve been tackling since the communist east germany are happy and i was fortunate years i went to college here in christ child and in the 1980 s. There were soldiers stationed in the pain im under area. Many of them were from down south and were keen on collecting amber stones back then the army had track suits made from said lastic a Synthetic Material made in east germany so when the phosphorus started to burn at around 2000 degrees or so last it breast pockets would melt and then stick to the skin and it was impossible to remove. So they were given a general anaesthetic or an injection and then the doctors would use a scalpel to remove the skin together with a melted Synthetic Material muttley alan found. Good samantha is now wary of going to the beach on his own its been 5 years since the accident and hes still in intense pain its changed his life. And i hope nobody else ever has to go through that. Id like to see the local authorities ensuring that there are warning signs for the public like you have with poisonous mushrooms. Signs saying these stones are dangerous and these are harmless but. This one is safe but dont touch this one call the police. Water difficult about that is that im just leave it. To saddam further east does have warning signs where visitors arrive at beaches but they have to look closer for the relevant information lower down and it seems that small print about dangerous phosphorous is simply too small as becomes clear when we asked passers by about the signs and whether theyve read them. A few did you notice this sign. Only because of the no doxil our heart will never read the rest of you hadnt asked me but really feel for the view. And not even the signs on the beach itself are effective. So why are the authorities doing more to warn beachgoers about this toxic legacy of past wars. Thats nice. Im very sickly its very off putting in the eyes of beach chair rental operators and hotel owners. Signs warning visitors that they might find all the ordinance on the beach thats why theres so much resistance. And as well as cochairing the green party robot havoc is also environment minister for the state of space we call on and takes a proactive approach despite the presence of ordinance in their backyard however the regional governments have limited scope for action. In legal terms the regional states are responsible inside their coastal waters and those states where the costar mecklenburg for place because dine and lower saxony and technically braman a dam broke too but its a big burden for them to deal with on their own dam these chemical agents and it up in our waters due to a war fought between n