Bombs mines top paedo warheads basically you find the entire horrifying array of things that the human brain is capable of devising when it wore it was by current estimates there are about 1600000 tonnes in german waters. Enough to fill a 3000 kilometer long Freight Train it is like its. Relations are made of metal and because salt water has a highly corrosive effect its a question of when not if all their contents are harmful for the environment and for people mentioned. The political it government policy in recent decades has essentially been to ignore the issue people have no real idea how much already has been or is about to be perforated by rust was. The 2nd world war. A global conflict that also so large parts of europe bombarded from the air on an unprecedented scale. And the high seas were also the scene of fierce fighting in the course of naval battles the parties to the war fired off countless shells mines and torpedoes towards the end of the conflict German Forces dumped their own munitions in the same. Following their victory the allies also ordered enormous stockpiles of active german ordinance to be sunk at specially chosen sites. In the country to the allies did recognize the problem of course they were concerned about some shadowy groups getting hold of the munitions and using them to mount postwar resistance attacks and what have you. So they arrived at a solution fairly quickly tipping it all into the north sea in the baltic anymore and you also see. In the leaderboard they generally assign specific locations for dumping the ordnance was transported to the coast and thrown into the sea. 50000 tons landed in a dumping site in the kiel fiord for example and there are others to leave things. But there was also the problem of on route dumping. The people tasked with the job were paid per journey. And would use the opportunity to dispose of items along the way it was to meet in digital for example the body people. The will chime german navy had a large arsenal not far from this beach outside the city of keel peter fans remember seeing torpedoes being dumped here his father was involved in the operation and took his then 4 year old son with him. And i saw this tall ship arriving on the harbor where my father was working. The torpedoes were loaded onto the ship and then taken out to sea some distance behind the lighthouse. And then there were thrown overboard and they were gone. The enormous quantities of unexploded ordinance have been rotting away on the seabed for decades their contents are repeatedly washed up on the regions coasts. Said the beachgoers. There have been frequent cases of people unwittingly picking up explosive gunk used by the german navy during the war frank rudolf has spent years inspecting munitions finds on germanys beaches and shows us how treacherous. It looks like a perfectly normal stone theres hardly any way to tell the difference if you pick one up your hands will be stained yellow due to a dying contains called hex a night show defend alarm in and you will not be able to wash that stain off your fingers its carcinogenic and causes genetic mutations and is very harmful when breathed in or swallowed those pretty nasty stuff trump lived on the left is a normal stone from the same beach and next to it a similar looking lump of gun cotton paper fans in his childhood friends used to play around with the explosive materials they found on the beach he particularly enjoyed setting fire to them not realizing the danger involved until later. You having to ask why wed pick up the stuff without any clothes and wed always get these blisters between our fingers and elsewhere. Eventually we realized it was from the explosives. One of my friends collected some of it in world league loves set fire to it and then put his gloves back on so he was in contact with the stuff for far longer than us. He was in hospital for 2 weeks or so because he got new skin practically over his entire body fast i know. In recent years as well large chunks of gun cotton have been found on the beaches of northern germany shes because im region peter phones is constantly on the lookout while on his favorite beach his most recent find was in 2015. Experts believe that germanys north sea coast is home to 1300000 tons of munitions with another 300000 tons on the countrys baltic coast. Stefan nehring is a marine biologist who has been tracking underwater ordinance for years. In 2003 he was asked by the authorities to examine dumps of poison gas near the north sea island of hell the land nearing was astonished to see the sheer number of munitions dumping sites marked on movie cool charts from the area. In. Which i knew there were ordinance dumps primarily poison gas in the strait of scada rock and off the island of borneo. But seeing all these areas marked right off our coast was completely new to me. And learning that we have far more accidents than previously known if you look at statements from the authorities back then they refer to a few handfuls of incidents caused by underwater munitions but my research has shown that the figure is way in excess of 1000 accidents on germanys coast and with a lot of casualties. After pestering the authorities stefan nearing impact on his own Research Mission he found that vast quantities of unspin ordinance had indeed been dumped off germanys coast to today hes on a diving expedition in the baltic sea near lubeck within sight of the mainland at a place that anyone with a boat can access the water is just 18 meters deep at this point what nearing discovers on his expeditions really fails to shock him. When i go diving in these areas its shocking to think of the huge amount of munitions down there. I feel really uneasy and because its so dark down there people are unable to see all this stuff thats going on underwater. So fishel files show that the authorities were aware of the problem but the public were never really made aware of the dangers and especially the quantities involved and the authorities just hope that the problem would go away over time and that eventually thered be nothing left to find in the understeer. In reality the munitions have been continuously corroding for over 70 years some for more than a century. In some cases right below passing ferries and freight ships since 2012 the german navy has located and deactivated around 100 explosive devices in shipping lanes along akil fuel ward. In germany marine Pollution Prevention is the responsibility of the federal maritime and Hydrographic Agency we asked for an interview on the issue of corroding sea dumped munitions bought with turned down. Said previously we are not the of clickable agency we are responsible soley for locating munitions. Does b s r the federal maritime and Hydrographic Agency is still refusing to acknowledge the presence of ordinance there despite itself gathering High Resolution backing metric data but they say the data show no cause for alarm so i wonder either theyre too stupid to know our drug regime works or they dont want to see the danger. They have working systems and have to see it but refuse to acknowledge it. A systematic clearing of the seabed only happens when economic interests take presentence such as the construction of an offshore wind farm or pipeline in those cases the authorities and Insurance Companies require every inch of the area in question to be probed. Company has a range of equipment that includes a machine used to find undesirable metal parts in areas 50 chill wind farms. This can fish this is called a stand fish. In the water if lies along in this position horizontally and is steered from above. This kind of device covers a scanning with about 5 meters and now think that a wind farm will have a perimeter of several kilometers we have to inspect every single square meter along the cable routes and at the size of the turbines. A process that takes months then a 2nd ship with human and robot divers on board examines every piece of metal much of it will typically be scrap but they often come across old bombs shells and mines. And the wind operation is massively underestimated the colossal effort involved says. They had 1st working underwater salvaging items then bringing them back to the surface was incredibly difficult sometimes we manage to only one or 2 objects a day now its more like 10 to 15 objects a day. But just imagine how much stuff is down there in total so with a ship of that size and all the costs that come together 10. 00 or 15 objects isnt really a lot. An operation of this kind can cost several 1000000. 00 euros d. C. Group dean has an inkling about who ultimately foots the bill. Just saw it as such of course its paid for by the energy companies. But i reckon they end up pricing it into their electricity bills for consumers. The wind farm sites cleared of munitions by private sector firms constitute a fraction of the total area in question the german navy also deployed special ships to scan the sea bed the government provides funding for a range of Research Projects and has set up an expert monitoring group. The underwater Ordinance Committee is headed by un stan haim founded in 2007 it brings together specialists representing the national and regional governments moment right now were conducting a general evaluation were trying to do what environmental groups have been demanding for years and drawing up a comprehensive register of munitions this would be to its capacity. Every year the experts publish a list of the t. N. T. Handgrenades torpedoes and shells discovered in 2017 they found 171. 00 remnants of the 1st and 2nd world wars off the coast signal in germany the Committee Works independently of government authorities. Also everybodys about status is necessary so that we can be frank about problems we identify without having any accountability. It means were not put in a position of having to pay for them. Its our interest among the senior advisers to the Expert Committee is because the former naval officer spends a lot of time browsing the regional archives of the coast on the task he faces is a daunting one trawling through old military files to document every single bomb and mind discharged of a german war has joined the 2nd world war and hopefully their Current Location its his research has made a significant contribution to the detail mapping of the toxic sides its a laborious undertaking. You name it its while i write here we have an area concerning an air raid on the night of february 15th 1904 it was a major raid targeting berlin. With over 800. 00 aircraft and including a diversionary attack it. An airborne mine laying operation with 44 bombers over the bay of kiel fealty. In total these aircraft dropped over 270. 00 mines. We have detailed documentation of the raid including the british plans so we know these aircraft actually took off and conducted the diversionary attack and the mines were transported into this area. To locate mines dropped from the skies vic it has to consult mountains of British American and german files he and his team are generally only allowed access for a few days at a time. When the shots are visible a typical Research Visit to an archive with a team of 3 or 4 people might produce 1212000 pages of material for analysis if youre really good. And then it all has to be evaluated so after one week in the archive youre definitely looking at a good 3 or 4 months of analysis. The former naval officer could not be more dedicated to the task but his team still have several dozen kilometers of files to work through only then will he have a rough overview of the only information recorded in the war files and most of the munitions dumped after the war are on documented v. X. Sees only one solution for locating all the contaminated sites the gods of us are from the ordinance that ended up in the sea after being dumped or dropped during the war adds up to an enormous amount in order to be 100 percent sure that we have detected everything and can now retrieve it all you have to sweep every single mir of the seabed for me. A job that would cost many billions of euros which are not provided for in any budget and main while as the mines continue to corrode and release their hazardous contents the time bone continues to take the toxic ordinance washed up by the tide is often indistinguishable from natural rocks and mineral stones the consequences can be devastating as gets a man ski found out after retiring he fulfilled a lifelong dream and moved with his wife from the industrial real region to the soft green hills because he loved spending his free time by the baltic in january 24th scene he was collecting stones while strolling the bache. Lifestyle one of the stones i collected in my bag looked like a piece of coral or a fossil. And suddenly bang. All i can remember is that there was this flash of light from my pants pocket. And i was on fire. What he picked up was not a stone but a lump of white phosphorous. I saw my jeans burning up. My skin was melting and falling off and there was black smoke. The only other person there was fishing. I called for help and i screamed im burning up. He musta thought i was crazy when he did come over i told him to call for an ambulance ideally a helicopter. And then some i managed to reach the water and when the flames are that high you dont roll around in the sand and wonder what to do its life or death. Row days or the gets observer leave. This is a photo of gets him on skis leg right after the accident. Biologist frank rudolf knows all too many stories like that of good samantha ski and has written a book advising pebble collectors on what to watch out for. This its not how it was a 1st time this here is a harmonies piece of flint this is. The biggest danger to the public is confusing amber flint and phosphorus only experts can tell the difference just by looking. Amber and phosphorus feel the same and have the same weight. But fast for us is exceedingly dangerous because its self ignite set around 20. 00 to 40. 00 degrees celsius and once it reaches our body temperature it becomes liquid and ignites. Through so instead of a stone you can remove from your pocket all you have is this slime on your fingers after a finger. And. A serious problem with this phosphorus is that back then it was mixed with rubber the idea behind incendiary bombs was that they drop through roofs and into the buildings and then a small explosive charge was enough to spray the phosphorous across the walls and even the rubber was added to make it stick leading to a cluster of small fires. Because i took papers out of my pocket and threw them into the sand. Every good german knows you need your Health Insurance card when you go to the hospital. And the tops of 4 fingers were on fire you. May have new skin now. But they were like candles on the 4th advent sunday. The waters off the island of whose adama northeastern germany had a particularly large quantity of phosphorus in 1943 a group of british bomber planes followed faulty target identification and drop their payloads here. Up to 3 phosphorous related accidents are reported every year fortunately not all of them have as dramatic an outcome as that in case. When they do patients to take him to the University Clinic in christ child the chief surgeon is familiar with the typical injuries. Therefore so i wasnt going to phosphorus ignites in the pocket of your trousers it causes these kinds of burns if youre quick theyll be 5 centimeters long but its a different scenario with the hands instinctively use your hands to try and question the fire and hear the patient lost entire patches of skin with burned edges and fiber in crops that form a couple of hours later. The thumb and forefinger were affected. In this case which i remember well the patient put his hand in his pocket to try to remove what was burning. And also. The Surgical Team of permanently prepared for patients with phosphorus ferns its a problem theyve been tackling since the communist east germany era. I went to college here in christ child and in the 1980 s. There were soldiers stationed in the pan im under area many of them were from down south and were keen on collecting amber stones back then the army had tracksuits made from said last dick a Synthetic Material made in east germany so when the phosphorus started to burn at around 2000 degrees for so lasting breast pockets would melt and then stick to the skin and it was impossible to remove the line so they were given a general anaesthetic or an injection and then the doctors would use a scalpel to remove the skin together with a melted Synthetic Material and found. Good samantha is now wary of going to the beach on his own its been 5 years since the accident and hes still in intense pain its changed his life. And i hope nobody else ever has to go through that. Id like to see the local authorities ensuring that there are warning signs with the public like you have with poisonous mushrooms. Signs saying these stones are dangerous and these are harmless but. This one is safe but dont touch this one call the police. Water difficult about that is that obviously. Saddam further east does have warning signs where visitors arrive at beaches but they have to look closer for the relevant information lower down and it seems that small print about dangerous phosphorus is simply too small as becomes clear when we asked passers by about the signs and whether theyve read them. A few noticed this sign. Only because of the no dogs allowed part doesnt read the rest of you hadnt asked me but they really feel for the viewers. And not even the signs on the beach itself are effective. So why arent the authorities doing more to warn beachgoers about this toxic legacy of possible. I mean basically its very off putting in the eyes of beach chair rental operators and hotel owners. Signs warning visitors that they might find all the ordinance on the beach thats why theres so much resistance. And as well as cochairing the green party robot havoc is also environment minister for the state of space because john and takes a proactive approach despite the presence of ordinance in their backyard however the regional governments have limited scope for action. In legal terms that regional states are responsible inside their coastal waters and those states with a costar mecklenburg for place because dine and lower saxony and technically preeminent hamburger too but its a big burden for them to deal with on their own damn these chemical agents and it up in our waters due to a war fought between nations it wasnt mecklenburg for palm that waged the 2nd world war it was germany and europe and this is the point of political contention until now every federal governments stance was to say were not responsible. The regional states can expand the Mapping Program and set up Research Projects on options for harder tackle ordnance retrieval but theyd never be able to pay for it so nothing happens. But it means the federal government does at least provide funding for research albeit on a modest scale take the project over a period of 3 years 1600000 euros were allocated in total to 3 scientific institutes among them kill based. Scientists on board the Poseidon Research vessel examine the condition of the sea bed and the waters in the baltic sea while also looking for explosives. Today toxicologist from the university of keele are planting leaving shellfish in little nets about the rusting ordinance where they accumulate the toxic substances in the sea of yemen and they constantly filter water. And regardless of whether they can feed off a substance in the water its all absorbed into the shellfish is tissue. In previous experiments where shellfish were placed directly above open mines the scientists had already found traces of explosives. We have are not really said washed we were really surprised that it worked on our 1st attempt it immediately answered 2 questions but these substances do indeed see part of the ordinance and into the environment and they end up in the Marine Food Chain did invite him up in arms get a few. Toxicologist edmon marsa is particularly concerned about t. N. T. Which divers find lying around in ordinance dump areas. The stingiest g. M. T. Is taxing its poisonous for the body and the blood and damages the liver the skin and the eyes but we also know its carcinogenic and thats the real problem. When it comes to the food chain the higher up an organism is the more t. N. T. It is bound to have accumulated if the concentrations are high enough eating fish contaminated with t. N. T. Could mean a risk of cancer developments just. Threatening to. The scientists examine the waters several times a day and find out that the toxic agents being admitted from the white clumps of t. N. T. Are spreading through to see. The experts from the Game Institute have likewise detected the presence of t. N. T. In the baltic even if in low concentrations for now. This footage was taken in an ordinance dump area right next to the keel feel what. Underwater ordinance and poison gas are a global problem they have been dumped in all the worlds oceans and in some places all you need to access them is diving equipment. Fights again the only accessible explosives in these quantities and possibly poison gas too in some places id rather not think of what could happen if they got into the wrong hands. You on the he didnt mention on the horror scenario that became reality in sicily in 1992 and one mafia judge giovani far corner was assassinated in an infamous bombing further similar and deadly attacks were perpetrated in the following months 20 years later the authorities arrested a fisherman who had retrieved the explosives for the mafia from missy and theoretically theres a similar threat lurking off germanys north and baltic sea coasts an estimated 1600000 tons of old munitions slowly deteriorating on the seabed even decades after being dumped dropped or fired into the water the ordinance can still be so explosive that it has to be blown up directly where its found. But its a solution that comes with its own devastating impact. Each detonation triggers a huge shockwave and the sound pressure is lethal for creatures with lungs Marine Mammals that live in the water such as the porpoises native to the region its like. The shockwave just keeps on going through the water column and can still be lethal 10 kilometers away so youll be turned off between people falling. Where possible the old bombs and shells are brought ashore to be defused safely on land in cases where transporting them to purpose built furnaces is too risky experts varied the ordinance with new explosives and detonate them remotely. Munitions that can be transported safely over a longer distances are taken to munster in western germany home to the National OrdnanceDisposal Facility the explosive material is pushed out and then burned. The government owned facility is the only place in germany where chemical ordinance and poison gas. May be disposed of. Whats left is a melting pot of scrap metal the volume of munitions still in the sea mains that control disposal operations will have to continue for decades. And. On the basis that we have 1600000 tons of ordnance off the german north and bought to exceed costs when you see in the reports how much ordinance is currently being retrieved every year 100 or maybe 200. 00 tons then at the current pace it would take centuries to really resolve this problem. Probably lose the Research Ship gloopy has set south from keel headed for the kohlberg a height of nish inside in the keel fjord a stretch of water you need special rules rice ation to enter there is 30000 tons of ordinance lying on the seabed here the scientists have positioned nets in order to inspect the fish swimming in these perilous waters. The danger posed by underwater ordinance to the water environment is the focus of these researchers working for the e. U. Funded Diamond Project marine biologist woman slung from germanys tune an institute is monitoring the native plant fish. Were going to do when we change the state of health of the fish and we look at the fish 1st from the outside to see if they have any diseases or parasites. Healthy. Those are the this is an extreme example of liver cancer i dont remember having seen such a severe case before. What we want to know now is whether this has to do with the dumb to munitions that you would have a very good if you want to do not. And its far from the exception the scientists find more fish with liver tumors an alarming discovery. On the edges of the dumping area for conventional ordnance we found a higher proportion of liver tumors compared to similar areas that have no munitions. And. Thats why we suspect that the tumors are connected to the pollutants released into the water its as useful. As long and his colleagues later returned to the tune an institute in braemar harben to evaluate their samples in the lab. They use state of the Art Technology to cut the fish tissue into wafer thin slices before examining them under the microscope. This is specious in that t. N. T. Might be the cause of the live achievements found in fish has turned into certainty. This is all healthy tissue and this is the tumor. Of the womans even at the National Level the government sees no need to take action which is why there is no broad based Political Initiative its not in the Coalition Agreement and there have been no commitments by the ruling parties. But theres no record of the chancellor saying i dont care who does it as long as someone does it and so its the same as ever everyone keeps passing the buck and in this case its between the Transportation Ministry because of the rivers and the Environment Ministry because of the sea ministerial we were eager to talk to those ministries about the growing problem of underwater ordinance and made several interview requests. Of course we understand what you are planning however the issue of munitions clearance is dealt with by the sh and the issue of contaminated science on the north sea and baltic sea is dealt with by block we therefore referred you to do to its competence we ask for your understanding Transportation Ministry. Unfortunately an interview is not possible we ask for your understanding and apologize for the late reply Environment Ministry. While fisheries of the responsibility of yet another department the underwater ordinance also poses dangers for the regions fishes who are familiar with the risk. So weve had repeated reports of fishermen finding mines or depth charges in their nets it happened 4 times last year but none of the devices exploded and it was possible to diffuse them in a controlled manner. But there was a case a number of years ago when a bomb holed up by a dutch fishing boat exploded and killed 3 people of the fish tank that i call. And the problem extends to more than explosive devices mistakenly retrieved by fishing boats Northern European coasts are also believed to be threatened by several 1000 tons of poison gas on the seabed here in the strait of sky correct between denmark and norway where an estimated 200000 tons of poison gas were dumped after the 2nd world war entire ships were loaded up with a deadly car. And then scuttled sinking to a depth of 600 meters tightly stacked shells and other ordinance have been slumbering down there for decades and nobody can say how many have already started to lake. The Danish Island of bourne home is another hot spot located around 50 c. Miles northeast of Germanys Baltic Sea coast and even closer to sweden over 30000 tons of german mustard gas were dumped here every fisherman here can remember seeing a mustard gas shell in their nets says a man who has been fishing in these waters for over 50 years. Most of us had picked up some mustard gas at some point or mustard gas gets its name from its odor but when stored its actually solid and not gaseous its a highly toxic substance that destroys the skin and when inhaled the lungs and fish are likewise contaminated when they come into contact with the agent. Rico you know. Normally you can smell the gas when you get it on board. Or boy or man. Then we call the emergency services. And they are always quick to respond dispatching a lifeboat that also has ordinance experts on board as well as inspectors from the Fisheries Office a few minutes after the initial distress call a team of investigators in protective clothing examined both diminish ns and the boats catch before bringing the fisherman to safety. At the same time another team are alerted on the island a specialist unit that works for the Danish Defense ministry once the alarm is sounded they immediately set up one of the over 20 harbors on the island and get to work on the contaminated fishing boat. We train them all the time of personnel and all our equipment just this is prepared to leave our barracks within 15 minutes and then we will be up and running within 2 hours. Regardless of what hopper it is in front of. Operations are conducted under the strictest of precautions centimeter by centimeter between decontaminate the boat as well as its nets and traps with the chlorine solution that neutralizes the poison gas once everything has been properly cleaned they contact the fishery authorities. Not on that. Once weve been informed our inspectors check the entire boat and after that they were given permission to continue fishing the owner is awarded compensation for their losses from the catch that had to be destroyed. Plus additional compensation from the government for having found a poison gas shells. Shells and fish are returned to the sea in an official dumping zone in light of the huge quantities involved one solitary shell has little impact german fishes do not enjoy the kind of service as the danish counterparts. He doesnt hold that not everything found by fishing boats whether chemical or conventional ordinance will end up becoming public. Officials will simply throw these objects back into the sea. Because it adds the easiest option for them. To guide us to. The scientists analysis of underwater ordinance have so far focused on the baltic sea but that set to change a new Research Project is now underway in the north sea which is threatened by even more wartime artifacts. February 2019100 experts from around the world a convening at the 2 Men Institute in bremer harben for the final conference of the Diamond Project researchers from across europe have spent 3 years scrutinizing the impact of ordinance in the baltic project director yet said bulldog ski from poland is satisfied with the outcome. Now the only remaining question is will the users accept the tools and will they use it. The new tool involves Intelligence Software that pulls all the relevant information from the Diamond Project plus data on drums minds and torpedoes from military archives and the findings of other Research Projects. The software knows the location and type of ordinance and can determine how dangerous every type is and the scale on which the harmful materials are spreading for government authorities wind farm operators in the fishing industry a very useful tool. Designed for months when if you collate all this information and then feed the system with an example it automatically calculates recommendation action that might be do nothing monitor the ordinance or recover it thats the aim. Yes of course these are only recommendations but hopefully they will be taken up and implemented by the powers that be. Almost 75 years after the 2nd world war the rusting old ordinance is now a ticking time bomb it poses a danger to shipping the fishing industry the environment and human beings whats needed now is a systematic solution for this enormous problem of the coasts of northern germany with the underwater Ordinance Advisory Committee only able to provide recommendations its up to the government to deliver the commitment and the funding and theres no time to lose. Some look judging by our findings from the call back to hide a sight we are fortunately not yet at this Tipping Point where t. N. T. Is being released on a broad scale but its really only a question of time not if but when its going to happen its inevitable and we have to be prepared for that. Even if we were to take all the Ordinance Disposal companies from around europe we would still not have the capacity to clean up the seas over the next 10 years its a process that has to be initiated by the government. Politicians have to make a commitment to the issue and assume both responsibility and the costs for say the next 50 years and then well see whether thats long enough. Or you know what im saying its too expensive and will take too long as an excuse we cannot permit. Thats simply not a proper political response. But we need action and the sooner and more resolutely that happens the better the visible alternative is we do nothing we wait for another 150 years and by then the rust has opened it all up and we have all the toxic substances in the baltic sea and then its too late to retrieve them fine but of course thats a pathetic response. They sound entices but are a drain on Natural Resources guitars made of african in many. Forests across the region are threatened by american guitar builder is taking responsibility. Hes financing kemeny reforestation in canada. Africa. In 30 minutes on d w. How do you. Have a Sustainable Way to scope the bank. Balance starts made. W. We know that this is a scary time for us the coronavirus is changing the world is changing. So please take care of yourself keep your distance wash your hands if you can stay at how were d. W. For here for you. Your working tirelessly to keep you informed on over platforms were all in this spirit none too good and were making. Stupid saves everybody stays steady said stay safe the previous instances. This is deja news live from birth and on World Press Freedom day torture of our own as journalists around the globe with our annual freedom of speech award we are not the courage and determination of reporters persecuted for exposing the truth about the corona virus pandemic also coming out ready for takeoff but nowhere to go with the pandemic wiping out International Travel airlines have taken a battering now a billionaire investor Warren Buffett throws in the towel on his stake information