Brazil: Illegal salvage from Nazi ships poses oil threat
There are more than 500 WWII wrecks off the coast of Brazil, some containing valuable metals. Researchers warn that the hunt for these resources could cause massive oil spills.
Brazilian marine biologists have solved a mystery that has long perplexed researchers across the world: Where do the heavy chunks of rubber that have often been washed up on beaches in northeastern Brazil over the past several years come from?
According to research by the Institute of Marine Sciences (Labomar) at the Federal University of Ceara (UFC) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the rubber bales, weighing up to 200 kg (441 lb), come from the German cargo ship MS Weserland, among others. It sank on January 3, 1944, and lies at a depth of more than 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) in the South Atlantic.
During the First and Second World Wars, rubber was an important material for the manufacture of cars, planes and uniforms. During the Second World War, Germans traveled to Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia and what was then Indochina — now Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia — to procure bales of latex.
