From 25 June to 6 July 2018 the divers of the Underwater Operating Group of the Underwater Command and Incursors (COMSUBIN) of the Navy seconded to the SDAI Nucleus of Ancona (Demining Defense Antimezzi Insidiosi), conducted a delicate underwater operation in the waters of Lake Varna (Bolzano), which allowed the removal of 3.094 dangerous explosive devices, which were delivered to the Army bombers belonging to the Alpine brigade Julia for the definitive neutralization in appropriate sediments.
Following a report from private citizens about the presence of probable explosive artifacts, the prefecture of Bolzano had arranged and coordinated an emergency reclamation intervention in the lake waters. The delicate underwater activities, conducted by a team of 6 divers and 3 COMSUBIN technicians in a band of seabed between 3 meters and the surface, made it possible to identify and recover 3.062 rifle bombs, 8 explosives loaves, 3 bombs from mortar, 2 medium caliber bullets and 19 hand grenades. The explosive devices, all dating back to the First World War, were handed over to the bomb squads of the 2nd Trento sapper regiment of the alpine brigade Julia of the Army who will provide for their custody and subsequent destruction.
"I am very satisfied with the underwater operations that we have conducted in the Varna Lake in recent years"Said the lieutenant Marco Cassetta, commander of the SDAI Nucleus of Ancona. "This is the fifth time that we intervene urgently to clean up the Varna lake from these dangerous explosive devices. In the last two years we have performed 30 days of work in these waters that have allowed us to remove a total of 5.956 rifle bombs (2.894 recovered in 2017 and 3.062 those removed during this mission), each containing about 700 grams of explosives, which are have been handed over to Army bomb makers. These activities demonstrate how the Armed Forces collaborate with each other and are present on the territory to safeguard public safety".
At the end of the operations, the bombers of the 2 ° distractor regiment of the Army, have stressed the importance for all colors that they should come across artifacts with shapes similar to those of an explosive device, not to touch them or tamper with them in any way, denouncing them immediately the discovery at the nearest station of the Carabinieri or at the local Capitaneria di Porto, in order to allow the army bombers or navy divers to intervene and restore the security conditions.
