low graphics version | feedback | help
A Slovenian man has become the first person to swim the entire length of the River Danube.
Forty-five-year-old Martin Strel was trying to raise awareness of environmental issues, but he now plans to swim on in an attempt to break the world record. Click here for a map of the River Danube Mr Strel set out from the German town of Donaueschingen, close to the source of the Danube in the Black Forest, on the 25 June. He has now arrived, 56 days later, in the Romanian Black Sea port of Sulina. A former professional guitarist, Mr Strel swam the 2,860km (1,773 miles) of the Danube as an ambassador for the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Gesture of solidarity In interviews given along the way, he said he was swimming for peace, friendship and clean rivers.
 Foreign Minister Roman (left) takes the plunge |
At one point in the journey, the Romanian foreign minister, Petre Roman, joined him for several kilometres in what he said was a gesture of solidarity with Mr Strel's aims.
World record
But the Slovenian swimmer's journey is not quite over.
In a bid to defeat the world record for marathon swimming, held by an American who swam the 2,910km-long Mississippi River, Martin Strel now intends to swim along a stretch of the Danube Black Sea canal.
He is accompanied on his journey by his 18-year-old son in a canoe.
| Search BBC News Online | |
|  Advanced search options | |
| |
 | |
 | |
| |
 | BBC RADIO NEWS |
| |
| |
 | BBC ONE TV NEWS |
| |
| |
| WORLD NEWS SUMMARY |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 | PROGRAMMES GUIDE |
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
E-mail this story to a friend
