100,000 Tonnes of Nazi Chemical Weapons Lie at Bottom of Baltic Sea, Reports Say

WARSAW (Sputnik) - Up to 100,000 tonnes of chemical weapons of Nazi Germany left after World War II could be resting at the bottom of the Baltic Sea ready to trigger an environmental disaster due to inevitable corrosion, Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper said it was difficult to estimate the exact amount of mines, barrels and bombs piled up on the Baltic seabed, but gauged it at between 40,000 to 100,000 tonnes.

According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the chemical weapons in question are mainly barrels of mustard gas, and aviation bombs and mines containing chemical warfare agents, mainly mustard and arsenic.

A mustard gas bomb can pollute water in a radius of up to 70 meters (230 feet), killing flora and fauna, as follows from a study conducted by the Polish Academy of Sciences, cited by the newspaper.

Nazi chemical weapons were buried in the Baltic Sea in the first years after World War II by the decision of a specially created Trilateral Commission, comprising of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.