WW1 Mustard Gas Dump Off Belgian Coast Leaks

Going to happen more often in a lot of places.
"Deadly mustard gas has leaked from a First World War underwater “weapons cemetery” in the North Sea, close to the Belgian coast.
The munitions dump of 35,000 tons of unexploded bombs, shells and grenades, created after the Great War, has long been considered safe.
In March fears were raised that some TNT had escaped, leading to intense study of the submarine sandbank, where the century old weapons, which are mostly German, are buried.
It emerged on Monday that, as well as leaked explosives, traces of mustard gas, which was used as a chemical weapon on the Western Front for the first time in 1917 by the Germans, were found.
Chemical weapons were sealed in cement filled container and dumped in the ocean after the First World War by many European countries.
But after almost a century underwater, history is rising to the surface again.
Mustard gas traces were found after tests in two of the 23 sites scrutinised, the North Sea minister Philippe De Backer said in response to questions put in parliament.
The munitions dumping ground close to the coastal town of Knokke is in an underwater sandbank called the 'Paardenmarkt' or “horse market”, the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported.
Carl Decaluwé, the governor of West Flanders, has called for the site, which lies close to one of Belgium’s premier coastal resorts, to be cleared.
“Better to do this now than when the leaks have got worse,” he said off the dump, which is just under two thirds of a mile from land and covers almost two miles."
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/02/first-world-war-mustard-gas-leaks-belgian-underwater-grave/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_fb&fbclid=IwAR1izTuDIAz5cdlekeSY7O_alczZN737q4P9A5drGwm0Cc71hWDDvxzJmz4

 

Mines all over the Baltic etc. a long term problem as well.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...eteries/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.59b46b93edc7
Hello all, back from a break, missed you all.