The fate of a Nazi U-boat that was torpedoed en route to Japan with 70 people on board, including two Japanese men, hangs in the balance as officials debate what to do about a growing environmental threat.
Tadao Yamato and Toshio Nakai were among the passengers traveling with the German crew on the U-864 en route from Germany to Japan with aircraft parts and a toxic cargo of 1,857 flasks of mercury when the Royal Navy submarine Venturer torpedoed it on Feb. 9, 1945, off the Norwegian coast.
When the U-boat went down, some of its mercury cargo leaked and settled on the seabed, contaminating an area covering 30,000 sq. meters. Small creatures and fish from the area have been found to contain high levels of the heavy metal.
Norwegian authorities would like to cover the wreck and surrounding seabed with a thick layer of gravel to seal the mercury in.