American ship Richard Montgomery could cause tsunami and flood British city
Photo: Dmitriy Puzyrev / Globallookpress.com
The British fleet will conduct a special operation and “neutralize” the bottom of the Thames from 1.4 thousand tons of explosives left after the Second World War, due to the threat of a giant tsunami, writes The Sun.
The US ammunition dry cargo ship SS Richard Montgomery sank at the mouth of a river 77 years ago. Since then, the bombs inside have threatened the population. Their power would be enough for the formation of a five-meter wave in the Thames, which would cause massive damage and cause death of people.
In the event of an explosion, a column of water and debris 300 meters wide and three kilometers high would appear, according to a recent study by the country's Ministry of Transport. According to experts, a tsunami could flood a city in northern Kent – Sheerness – and 11,000 of its inhabitants. Detailed studies of the sunken ship have been carried out since 2002.
A group of bomb disposal experts trained in special methods of working under water were tasked with securing the ship that sank in 1944. They have to disassemble the masts sticking out of the water, which can touch other ships. The work will begin in June 2022 and will last two months. At the moment, the area near the sunken ship is prohibited.
Earlier, in the Kama River near the village of Khokhlovka in the Perm Territory, a ship that sank hundreds of years ago was found. It can be approximately dated back to the 17th – 19th centuries.
