A SUNKEN Nazi wreck off the coast of Europe is a ticking time bomb on the verge of collapsing and unleashing its deadly contents, divers have warned.

Russian warplanes bombed the German oil tanker Franken on April 8, 1945, sending it to the bottom of the Bay of Gdansk, near Poland, with 1,500,000 litres of fuel.

Experts predict that the fuel inside the Franken is a mix of heavy and light oil — and each type has its own horrifying implications should it leak

Now divers have discovered that the wreck is at serious risk of collapsing, releasing the oil in its hold, and devastating the environment and economy of the whole region.

It could be a disaster unlike anything the Baltic Sea has ever faced, according to Olga Sarna, chair of marine conservation group the MARE Foundation.

She said: “We are talking about potentially the biggest ever ecological disaster in the whole Baltic Sea region.

“All of the wildlife in this area could potentially die if the spill happens. Also the economic impact will be huge for the whole region.”

Russian warplanes bombed the German oil tanker Franken on April 8, 1945, sending it to the bottom of the Bay of Gdansk, with 1,500,000 litres of fuel

Russian warplanes bombed the German oil tanker Franken on April 8, 1945, sending it to the bottom of the Bay of Gdansk, with 1,500,000 litres of fuel
Experts predict that the fuel inside the Franken is a mix of heavy and light oil — and each type has its own horrifying implications should it leak.

She added: “Heavy oil is the type of oil that will just go to the bottom and then spread over the bottom of the bay, killing everything in the area.

“We have seen this from a different wreck in the nearby Bay of Puck. There is another World War Two shipwreck there and there was a spill that began there in 2005.

“I believe that ship had only the oil necessary for its own use, so it was a much smaller amount. That oil was heavy oil, and it sank to the bottom of the seabed and now it has spread over 400,000 square metres.

“In this area we saw a 100% mortality rate of all the organisms.”

Divers have discovered that the wreck is at serious risk of collapsing and releasing the oil in its hold

The hit to the Polish tourist industry alone is estimated to be equivalent to hundreds of millions of zloty

And that’s not the worst of it.

Olga said: “If it’s light oil, that’s more dangerous, because it will go up to the surface and then the sea currents can move it towards the beaches.

“And since the currents in the Gdansk area are usually towards the beaches, we are talking about 80km of beaches that can be hit.

“If the oil gets there then the local population includes protected colonies of seals and birds, so the ecological effect will be really dramatic.

“And also it will have an effect on the tourism and the industry of the region. We will have to close the whole area for at least a couple of years.”

The hit to the Polish tourist industry alone is estimated to be equivalent to hundreds of millions of zloty.

The ship collapsing could be a disaster unlike anything the Baltic Sea has ever faced, according to Olga Sarna, chair of marine conservation group the MARE Foundation

Olga says it’s impossible to predict how long the wreck will take to collapse, but says it’s about “when” not “if”.

She said: “We know that the steel on the wreck is in worse shape every day and obviously the ship is deteriorating, so the only question is when it will break.

“The way it’s positioned on the bottom of the sea is between two dunes and the current goes precisely between them and constantly washes over the ship.

“So the moment that the steel cannot take the ship’s weight any more, then it will break into this space between the dunes.”

The Franken was supplying two Nazi naval groups when it sank with 48 lives lost.

The cruiser and all battleships in the Bay of Gdansk were sent westwards towards Germany after the tanker was destroyed.

Now campaigners are trying to secure funding for an operation to drain the wreck of oil, but they’re not expecting government help.

Olga added: “At this stage the law does not oblige the government to take any action to prevent the oil spill. They are obliged only to act at the moment the spill happens.”

In order to build pressure a worldwide petition has been launched, which has already attracted 46,000 signatures.