A rusting hull, once a famed vessel known as the Slovenian, has surfaced earlier this month from the Sava River near the Serbian town of Sremska Mitrovica, located 45 miles northwest of the capital, Belgrade. While parts of the vessel have appeared above the surface in the past, local residents report that the wreck has never been so exposed. Andrija Popovic, a historian and head of the town museum, noted that the exposure has generated significant interest, describing the boat as something not seen every day. Serbian media has dubbed the vessel "Sava's Titanic."
According to Popovic, the Slovenian was constructed in 1913 at a shipyard in Budapest, Hungary, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The vessel measured roughly 177 feet in length and was initially named the Vag, after Slovakia's longest river, the Vah. Equipped with a steam engine, the boat was used to pull heavy cargo between Budapest and other towns along the Danube. During World War I, the vessel largely paused its operations. As the war concluded and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dismantled, ownership of the boat was transferred to the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes—which later became Yugoslavia—as part of war reparations. It was during this transition that it was renamed the Slovenian, though Popovic noted that the reason for this name choice remains a mystery.
During World War II, the Slovenian and its country fell under Nazi German occupation. Following the liberation of Belgrade by Yugoslav anti-fascist forces in 1944, the boat was utilized to transfer equipment and wounded fighters while pushing German troops westward. In late April 1945, the vessel was carrying wounded fighters when it struck a German mine. It sank and has remained in that same location since that day, Popovic explained.
The Slovenian is not the only historical relic emerging from Europe's receding waters. On Serbia's eastern border with Romania, the rusty remains of Nazi German ships are visible in the slumped Danube waters. These vessels, some still laden with weapons, belonged to Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet and were deliberately sunk near the end of the war as German troops retreated and Soviet forces advanced. Similar discoveries have occurred previously; in 2024, a trove of Nazi ships containing explosives emerged in the Danube following a summer drought, and dozens of scattered ships from the same fleet appeared in 2022 near Prahovo after record-low water levels.
Beyond shipwrecks, the drought has revealed other ancient history. In Italy, the worst drought in 70 years has exposed the piers of an ancient bridge over the Tiber River that was used by Roman emperors but fell into disrepair by the third century. Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, researchers recovered the jawbone, tusks, shoulder blade, ribs, and other fragments of an extinct woolly mammoth from the shrinking Danube. Experts believe the animal was young and that the bones were well-preserved because they were concentrated in the same location, indicating they belonged to a single individual.
The scorching drought has disrupted trade, power, and water supplies across the continent, with record-low levels on the Danube severely impacting nuclear power plants in Hungary and Romania and halting traffic on Europe's second-largest waterway. The drought has ravaged crops from the Netherlands to Bosnia, with water shortages extending to the Alps. Serbian hydrology expert Dejan Vladikovic attributed the current situation to a combination of a lack of winter snow and a very dry spring. He warned that such situations will likely become more frequent, stating, "We are entering periods when this will, unfortunately, become a new normalcy."
According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s. By late July 2026, the European Drought Observatory reported that half of the European Union and the United Kingdom were experiencing drought, with 9% of the territory at the most severe alert level. Even high-altitude regions are affected; in the Slovenian Alps, the Triglav Lodge, which sits at an elevation of 2,515 meters (8,251 feet), has restricted water use for climbers and hikers, including for showers and toilets, and is using paper plates to save water on dishwashing.
The animal is thought to have been young and the dark color of the bones may indicate that it spent a lot of time in a marshy environment, experts said. The bones are an important discovery because they are well preserved and "unlike many previous discoveries … were concentrated in the same place," indicating that they all belonged to the same animal, a local museum director told AFP.
Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness.
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Md. Kazi Bijoy is a dedicated tech enthusiast and content creator with a passion for digital innovation. With years of experience in the tech industry, he specializes in breaking down complex topics into easy-to-understand guides. When he isn’t writing, he explores the latest gadgets and researches emerging trends in the digital world.